About this Event
Join New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger, B.A. Shapiro for the launch of her masterful novel of psychological suspense, Metropolis. Shapiro will be in conversation with former Columbus Dispatch Arts Editor Nancy Gilson.
A ticket includes the purchase of METROPOLIS and is $30 with tax. Proof of full vaccination is required to attend; wearing masks is encouraged. Registration closes at 6pm the day of the event.
Metropolis follows a cast of unforgettable characters whose lives intersect when a harrowing accident occurs at the Metropolis Storage Warehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But was it really an accident? Was it suicide? A M**der? Six mysterious characters, who rent units in, or are connected to, the self-storage facility, must now reevaluate their lives. We meet Serge, an unstable but brilliant street photographer who lives in his unit, which overflows with thousands of undeveloped pictures; Zach, the building’s owner, who develops Serge’s photos as he searches for clues to the accident; Marta, an undocumented immigrant who is finishing her dissertation and hiding from ICE; Liddy, an abused wife and mother, who recreates her children’s bedroom in her unit; Jason, who has left his corporate firm and now practices law from his storage unit; and Rose, the office manager, who takes kickbacks to let renters live in the building and has her own complicated family history.
The characters have a variety of backgrounds: they are different races; they practice different religions; they’re young and they’re not so young; they are rich, poor, and somewhere in the middle. As they dip in and out of one another’s lives, fight circumstances that are within and also beyond their control, and try to discover the details of the accident, Shapiro both dismantles the myth of the American dream and builds tension to an exciting climax.
For readers of Janelle Brown, Lucy Foley, Megan Abbott, and Laura Lippman, Metropolis is an original, spellbinding, and moving story of what we hang on to, what we might need to let go, and how unexpected events can lead us to discover our truest selves.
B. A. Shapiro is the bestselling author of The Collector's Apprentice, The Muralist, and The Art Forger, which won the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Boston Authors Society Award for Fiction, among other honors. Her books have been selected as community reads in numerous cities and translated throughout the world. Before becoming a novelist, she taught sociology at Tufts University and creative writing at Northeastern University. She and her husband, Dan, divide their time between Boston and Florida.
After receiving her undergraduate degree in English Literature at Miami University and her Master’s in Journalism at The Ohio State University, Nancy Gilson began her career as a general assignment reporter for the Oklahoma Journal in Oklahoma City. She joined the Columbus Dispatch in 1985 and was the Arts Editor until she retired from full-time work five years ago.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Gramercy Books, 2424 East Main Street, Columbus, United States
USD 30.00