In-Store: Laura Sims: The Man w/ Vanessa Chan

Thu Jul 09 2026 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm UTC-04:00

Books Are Magic Smith | Brooklyn

Books Are Magic
Publisher/HostBooks Are Magic
In-Store: Laura Sims: The Man w\/ Vanessa Chan
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"Creepy, disturbing, and dripping with dread, it was nearly impossible to put down." —Robyn Harding
About this Event

Event guidelines:

  • Each ticket will include either a copy of the featured book or a $10 Books Are Magic gift card.
  • Additional copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
  • A signing will follow the talk.
  • Home address is collected for contact tracing purposes; it will not be used otherwise.
  • The event will also be livestreamed for free here: https://youtube.com/live/oWVI2wiUPys
  • As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we'll work it out.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact [email protected].


From the highly acclaimed author of How Can I Help You, a New York Times Best Thriller of the Year: a singular take on the psychological suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits.

The photos Judith Stanley takes are just for her, a private passion to fill her suburban days. But when she shares them with Paul Sorenson, her new photography instructor, she's unprepared to hear his astonished praise. "Stunning," he calls her photos. "Extraordinary." She has an uncanny eye, he says, and should consider publication. He could help. Except Judith has no interest in sharing her work; in fact, the mere idea of it frightens her.

Still, emboldened by Paul’s encouragement, Judith ventures out beyond her quiet neighborhood to the city in search of increasingly striking images. When she starts to notice the dark shape of a man in the corner of her self-portraits, Judith is certain he's an attacker from her past. She doesn't know why he has returned, but she's sure of his presence: the hoarse sound of his breathing, his hard grip on her elbow. Perhaps it would appease the man if she were to put her camera down and give up her private passion. But she can't; she refuses. Until one night when the man finally emerges from the shadows, and Judith’s story suddenly and irrevocably becomes his own.

Chilling and heart-poundingly propulsive, The Man is a phenomenal and timely novel exploring the inescapable fear of living as a woman, the tantalizing seduction of artistic freedom, and the very real dangers that lurk both inside and outside the confines of the mind. The Man marks Laura Sims as an extraordinary talent at the top of her game; and this, her third novel, is her greatest achievement yet.


Laura Sims’s previous novels How Can I Help You and Looker have been featured on Best Books lists in The New York Times Book Review, Vogue, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, Publishers Weekly, and more. An award-winning poet, Sims has published four poetry collections; her essays and poems have appeared in The New Republic, Boston Review, Lit Hub, and Electric Lit. She lives in New Jersey, where she works part-time as a children’s librarian.


Vanessa Chan is the Malaysian author of internationally bestselling The Storm We Made, a Good Morning America Book Club Pick, BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick, and New York Times Editor’s Choice. The novel, her first, will be translated into more than twenty languages worldwide. Her other work has been published in Vogue, Esquire, and more.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Books Are Magic Smith, 225 Smith Street, Brooklyn, United States

Tickets

USD 10.89 to USD 32.66

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