Providence received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author David Grosz.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Providence, by David Grosz. Published: December 14, 2023
What’s the book’s first line?
A story obsessed me from my late childhood into early adulthood.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Gabriel Staub is a writer adrift in his early 30s whose older sister, Becca, is a brilliant, tempestuous–and world-famous–artist. Gabriel has spent his life in the shadow of Becca’s success, and he is haunted by a childhood incident that traumatized her. A chance encounter with an old friend offers him unexpected companionship, but also forces him to confront his painful past.
Providence is a story about friendship, art, and memory set in the contemporary New York of glamorous high-rises and glitzy art galleries, with detours to France, Italy, Slovakia, and the backwoods of the Catskill Mountains. Meditative and searching, the novel tells of coming of age amid loss and solitude.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I was interested in how family friends from childhood can influence the adult a person later becomes. This book starts with a chance encounter between the narrator, Gabriel Staub, and Catherine Morrow, his mother’s former best friend, whom he hasn’t seen in two decades, following a falling out between the families.
I was also interested in the lives of artists and the lives of people who live with artists. The novel’s third principal character is Becca Staub, Gabriel’s older sister and a professional artist. I wanted to explore how her success and creative ambition have shaped her life and affected those close to her.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Providence is a book that explores dynamics between friends and between and within families. It also considers the way stories from our past live with us in the present. I think the people who are drawn to these themes will enjoy the book.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
Gabriel Staub is, in the word’s of his sister, Becca, “a brooder.” He holds tightly onto the past, though of course he can’t change it. He isn’t based directly on anyone I’ve known or have read about, but in a broader sense he reminds me of a certain type of person I have met at various stages of my life — someone who is deeply introspective but not necessarily all that self-aware. I think it was this paradoxical aspect of Gabriel’s character that interested me, and writing the book allowed me to journey with him as he worked through questions about his identity.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I am the Editorial Director of a company that publishes art catalogues. I’ve worked in the arts for two decades, and that knowledge has informed the portions of this book set in the contemporary art world.