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  • Published: 7 January 2020
  • ISBN: 9780735214392
  • Imprint: Putnam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $38.00

Talk to Me




By the Thurber Prize-winner and author of the New York Times bestseller, Love Poems for Married People, Talk to Me is a wry yet tenderhearted novel for our age, and a sharp look at how one man's mistake can be what leads him back to his family--and to the man he used to be.

By the Thurber Prize-winner and author of the New York Times bestseller, Love Poems for Married People, Talk to Me is a wry yet tenderhearted novel for our age, and a sharp look at how one man's mistake can be what leads him back to his family--and to the man he used to be.

It's a story that Ted Grayson has reported time and time again as a network TV anchor: the public downfall of those at the top. He just never imagined that it would happen to him. After a profanity-laced tirade is caught on camera, his reputation and career are destroyed, leaving him without a script for the first time in years.
While American viewers may have loved and trusted Ted for decades, his family certainly didn't. At the time of his meltdown, Ted is estranged from his wife, Claire, and his adult daughter, Franny, a writer for a popular website. When Franny's boss suggests that she confront Ted in an interview, it may be the chance for Ted to take a hard look at how he got here, and to find his way back before it's too late.
Talk to Me is a sharply observed, darkly funny, and ultimately warm story about a man who wakes up too late to the mess he's made of his life...and about our capacity for forgiveness and empathy.

  • Published: 7 January 2020
  • ISBN: 9780735214392
  • Imprint: Putnam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $38.00

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Praise for Talk to Me

"Kenney's bittersweet, darkly funny latest (after Truth in Advertising) is equal parts family drama and commentary on communication and news consumption in the age of instant gratification. Kenney is supremely gifted at creating flawed, vivid characters and capturing the wonder, ennui, and heartbreak of marriage of parenthood, and the seemingly small moments that make life precious."--Publishers Weekly

"Chronicle[s] our messy, modern lives."--Los Angeles Times