The Speed of Light

“The Speed of Light is an elegant, meticulous, and quite subtle novel about lives lived at a remove from, but forever connected to, tragedy–the camps. Ms. Rosner’s imaginative aim, of course, is to show us great human importance where we might’ve thought it didn’t reside, and to change us with this knowledge. She certainly succeeds.”
–RICHARD FORD

“A resonating novel about silence and sharing, about the mystery and pain of the past and how it must be reclaimed. Beautifully written, in images that sing in our ears long after we’ve put the book down.”
–CHITRA RANERTEE DIVAKARUNI
Author of The Mistress of Spices and The Unknown Errors of Our Lives

“Rilke memorably defined art as exactness, a hatred of the vague, and by that definition The Speed of Light is poetry sustained. The precision of the language here, the structural arrangements and the deft evocation of character in history all herald a genuine talent–not so much emerging as achieved. Ms. Rosner’s debut novel turns sorrow into song.”
–NICHOLAS DELBANCO
Author of What Remains

“With its symphony of voices, The Speed of Light tells a haunting story of loss and redemption. It is beautifully written and utterly affecting.”
–TOVA MIRVIS
Author of The Ladies Auxiliary

“Elizabeth Rosner touches a chord deep down where our fears are buried, then makes that chord vibrate and hum until magic happens and it sings. I loved this book. It entered my dreams.”
–BEVERLY DONOFRIO
Author of Riding in Cars with Boys and Looking For Mary

“Elizabeth Rosner has written a lyrical and absorbing novel whose power is enriched by its understatement. This uncommon story not only probes how children wrestle with the silence handed down to them by a silent father cursed with inexhaustible sorrow, but it also tells us of the healing magic of love and does so through a marvelous and unusual character–a Latino housekeeper–who will find an enduring spot in readers’ hearts.”
–JOSEPH BERGER
Author of Displaced Persons: Growing Up American After the Holocaust

Elizabeth Rosner is a graduate of Stanford University and received a master of fine arts in creative writing from the University of California at Irvine. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Poetry East, Southern Poetry Review, and Another Chicago Magazine, among other publications. She lives in Berkeley, California.

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