Peck & Peck tells the irresistible story of a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world: the renowned Peck & Peck. It's 1982, New York City. Crime is on the rise, muggings are in the streets, and Batter Gray, recent college graduate with a skill that no one wants-an 'ear' for poetry - is worried about his future. While all his friends have real jobs, he's folding T-shirts at the Gap. As for love? No. Not unless you count Sallie Mae, the student loan tyrant. He hears from Sallie all the time. But when Batter gets a dream job at Peck & Peck, the most prestigious poetry quarterly in the world, his life moves into the literary fast lane. Soon Batter is knee-deep in the secret war between the two Editors in Chief, the famous Peck brothers - twins and enemies - as well as being privy to the private affairs of their thirty-nine editors, whose professed mission is the same: Find originality. Reward creativity. Burn the rest. And by 'burn', they mean incinerate. Because at Peck & Peck, 'good' isn't good enough, 'interesting' doesn't cut it, plagiarists aren't tolerated, and parolees run the mailroom. Still want to submit your poem? Go with God.
Hugely original, brilliantly funny and peopled with unforgettable characters, Peck & Peck is both a passionate ode to the written word and a heartwarming exploration of all that makes us human.
'Charming, uplifting, soulful, and original, Peck & Peck is the perfect successor to Lessons In Chemistry. If you loved Elizabeth Zott, you will adore Batter Gray' Kristin Hannah
Batter Gray is worried about his future. Even when he was eleven, his classmates seemed to have settled on a goal: doctor, lawyer, broker, engineer. Good jobs that automatically command respect and security. Now Batter is in his early 20s, living in New York City, and he wants something different; something that alienates some people and bores most. Poetry. And yet to him - and exactly thirty-nine editors at a company called Peck & Peck - poetry not only represents the power of humanity but holds the key to its survival.
Batter was named after his mother's dog, who seemed to have achieved more in his short years on earth than he ever will. But as an identical twin who lost his brother at birth, Batter finds himself confronted by the everyday dualities that make up life: right vs. wrong, truth vs. lies, rejection vs. acceptance. It's almost as if his dead brother is a reminder: there are always two sides to every story.
No, wait. Make that three.
In Peck & Peck Bonnie Garmus has created a tour de force of a novel. Hugely original, brilliantly funny and peopled with unforgettable characters, Peck & Peck is both a passionate ode to the written word and a heartwarming exploration of all that makes us human.
