Greasepaint

In a reimagined 1950s New York, music and politics keep a community gathering around dinner tables, pianos and bars. Frankie Gold sings while Sammy Silver plays, anarchist newspaper work gives way to evening performances, and desire travels through a network of friends and lovers. Laur and Vic find moments together outside, while Lily follows a different Sammy’s regular appearances. Rather than following a single couple toward a conventional resolution, the novel moves among butches, performers and Yiddish anarchists whose lives overlap. Their conversations and routines make community something continually created in company: through a song, an argument, a shared meal or another Friday night that no one wants to end.