Pg. 69: Binnie Kirshenbaum's "The Scenic Route"

The current feature at the Page 69 Test: The Scenic Route by Binnie Kirshenbaum.

About the book, from the publisher:

Divorced, alone, and unexpectedly unemployed, Sylvia Landsman flees to Italy, where she meets Henry, a wistful, married, middle-aged expatriate. Taking off on a grand tour of Europe bankrolled with his wife's money, Henry and Sylvia follow a circuitous route around the continent—as Sylvia entertains Henry with stories of her peculiar family and her damaged friends, of dead ducks and Alma Mahler. Her narrative is a tapestry of remembrances and regrets...and her secret shame: a small, cowardly sin of omission. Yet when the opportunity arises for Sylvia and Henry to do something small but brave, the refrain "if only" returns to haunt her, leaving Sylvia with one more story of love lived and lost.

Browse inside The Scenic Route, and learn more about the book and author at Binnie Kirshenbaum's website.

Binnie Kirshenbaum is the author of two short story collections and six novels. She is a professor of fiction writing at the Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts and lives in New York City.

The Page 69 Test: The Scenic Route.

--Marshal Zeringue