The Acrobat

"""Delaney writes simply and beautifully about Grant . . . crafting a character who's essentially character-less. [H]e's sensitive to how . . . masks change, how hard they are to remove.""—Mark Athitakis, Los Angeles Times “Imagination meets biography in this novel about Cary Grant. . . . Grant’s life is not the happily-ever-after film where hero and heroine kiss as the credits roll. Instead he is alone and frightened, desperate to be seen, to be heard, to be loved. . . . A beautifully imagined, sympathetic portrait of a flawed icon.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “[A] splendid fictional biography of Cary Grant, charting the film star’s path toward an ‘endless conundrum of fame.’. . . Delaney vividly captures the intoxicating and toxic fumes of Hollywood, where ‘egos go to be crushed,’ and presents an alluring amalgam of fact and fiction. Breezy and entertaining, Delaney’s portrait perfectly befits the glamour and fakery of his subject.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “As well as being historically interesting, Delaney’s novel is topical because it sheds light on the current 'psychedelic renaissance' of the past 15 years. . . . [It] asks the contemporary reader, Can we learn something from Cary Grant’s cathartic trips? . . . Delaney's prose captures the elasticity of expanded consciousness but also the unpredictable and surreal moments that inevitably transpire.”—James Penner, Los Angeles Review of Books “The intermingling of fiction with truth captures the essence of Grant as a Hollywood leading man, but also as just a man, with foibles, hopes, and fears. The Acrobat is an artistic biographical novel about one of the greatest actors of all time.”—Foreword Reviews “A book for biography fans, for literary fiction fans, for movie fans, The Acrobat matches its graceful, stylish subject in style and grace. Delaney has both captured a man we know and given us a character by whom we are constantly surprised.” —Darin Strauss, author of The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story"