Alta Live: Author Peter Orner Discusses His New Book, The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter!

 

Yesterday afternoon, I listened to the Alta Live event featuring author, Peter Orner discussing his new novel, The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter.

 Frankly, I'd never even heard of Peter Orner before. After listening to Peter Orner in conversation with author, Tod Goldberg, I didn't hesitate adding Orner's latest novel to my ever growing reading wishlist! It sounds amazing!! It took Orner 15 years to write The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter!

Watch the above YouTube interview with Peter Orner in conversation with Tod Goldberg. It's roughly 41 minutes in length and very engaging to watch if you're interested!

Below is a summary for The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter I discovered on Peter Orner's website:

The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter

The cold case of a young Hollywood starlet’s death sets a contemporary writer on an epic and comic quest to uncover the truth, and its connection to his own family—a new novel by “a major talent” (New York Times) and “one of the most distinctive voices of his generation” (Granta).

Jed Rosenthal hasn’t published a book in fourteen years, the mother of his child left him in a “trial separation” that has stretched on indefinitely, and he struggles to navigate the daily sorrows of their co-parenting arrangement. But the implosion of Jed’s family is simply a footnote in the larger history of the Rosenthal family’s decline.

Just days after the JFK assassination, Karyn “Cookie” Kupcinet was found dead in her Hollywood apartment. The press reported that the 22-year-old was strangled, yet unanswered questions linger to this day. Cookie’s parents—Chicago royalty, Irv and Essee Kupcinet—had been close friends with Jed’s grandparents, but in the aftermath of her death, their friendship abruptly and inexplicably ended. Decades later, Jed pores over family stories, newspaper archives, old photos, and crime scene notes, believing that if he can divine the truth of Cookie’s death—whether it was suicide, murder, or part of a larger conspiracy—it might shed light on a mystery closer to home.

Spanning seventy plus years, and weaving together family drama and a true-life unsolved case, The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter is a singular, wryly comic, and deeply human exploration into friendship and the bonds that sustain us.