From America to France
and Eastern Europe to Japan, this quest for a missing woman is both
a psychological mystery
and a meditation on
our notions of space.
“A strange, funny, and completely original novel. Ifland is a master satirist, an elegant plotter, and, at heart, a philosopher who brings international flair
to her work.”
—Elizabeth McKenzie,
author of The Portable Veblen
“A highly imaginative, cunningly plotted world tour of a novel in search of its elusive heroine, the soul (appropriately named Alma). Its explorations of the interconnected realms of storytelling and desire will keep readers ensnared right up to the unexpected conclusion.”
—Carolyn Burke, author of
No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf and Foursome
Trade Paperback Original | $16.95
November 29, 2022 | 224 pages | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4
ISBN 978-1-7345379-7-0
Rights: North America & Open Market
Genre: Literary Fiction
ABOUT THE BOOK
Where is Alma? A future husband—No. 4—is desperately seeking his fiancée, who has disappeared. To locate her, he is interviewing her three former husbands, her sister, and ex sister-in-law. Could she be hiding in a French monastery? A Japanese shukubo (temple lodging)? Or maybe she is the victim of a belief in a Balkan creation myth?
Written in six voices that come together in a seamless and often comical narrative, Speaking to No. 4 is both a psychological mystery and a meditation on our construction of space. As husband No. 3, the Architect, says to husband-to-be No. 4, “Think of Japanese space as a novel in which the main character is absent.”
Praise for Alta Ifland’s previous book, The Wife Who Wasn’t
“This comedy of errors is a page-turner, where a mail-order bride service, enough love triangles to boggle the mind, a stolen Egon Schiele painting, and a devastating fire lead the worlds of Santa Barbara and Chișinău to collide.” —Los Angeles Review of Books
“The Wife Who Wasn’t is full of well-drawn and totally believable characters.” —Andrei Codrescu, author of the bestselling The Blood Countess, commentator for National Public Radio
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alta Ifland was born in Romania, took part in the overthrow of the communist dictatorship, and immigrated to the United States in 1991. Her books include
The Wife Who Wasn’t (New Europe Books) and Elegy for a Fabulous World (2010 finalist for the Northern California Book Award in Fiction). After many years in California, she lives currently in France.
