the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. Previously, Bruno managed public relations and marketing for technology and financial services companies in Silicon Valley. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an MBA from Cornell University, and a BA from Stanford University. She lives in Iowa City with her husband, two sons, and blue heeler.
At Electric Lit Bruno tagged "seven books that show Pittsburgh is the best place to come of age—at any age." One title on the list:
Emily, Alone by Stewart O’NanRead about the other entries on the list at Electric Lit.
Somehow Stewart O’Nan managed to burrow deeply into the psyche of an old lady for Emily, Alone. There is no character in fiction who feels more real than Emily Maxwell. She reads the newspaper, cleansbefore the housekeeper arrives, and waits impatiently for thank you notes from her grandchildren.
As Emily traverses Pittsburgh in her cobalt-blue Subaru Outback, I found myself on Google maps, tracing her routes around my hometown. Her journey ends when she leaves the city to visit the rural Pennsylvania outpost where she grew up. There, she finds the house of her childhood, restored to its original white with forest-green shutters, and her mother’s hydrangeas in full bloom. For the first time, she doesn’t wish to distance herself from the child she once was, proving that nobody is ever too old to come of age. Fortunately, Emily will be back this fall in O’Nan’s newest book, Evensong.
Emily, Alone is among Ben Schrank's six notable books on love, betrayal, and creative people who behave badly.
--Marshal Zeringue