Ad Parnassum is Nancy Weber’s offbeat and eclectic novella, written in 1973. Included are two additional short stories: Might Have Been and A Name For It.
REVIEWS
The writing in all three works is rich with action and conflict, and it encourages readers to burrow deeper into the hidden layers of meaning. - Publisher’s Weekly
A swift, witty metafiction, Parnassus is life as seen through a kaleidoscope, offering a fresh take on a bright, ever-changing scene. - Kit Reed
In Ad Parnassum, Nancy Weber has created a novella that is, on the one hand, entirely ingenious, fascinating and clever and, on the other, profoundly moving. More, she has introduced us to a heroine so singular and compelling that we can only hope that Weber will share her with us again, and soon. How Weber accomplishes this feat is as unique as her heroine. Ad Parnassum’s extraordinary nonlinear structure (and I will not spoil the surprise by saying more) leads us through a warren of love and sex that are totally separated, sex and love that are complicatedly merged, philosophy where even Eve, Persephone and pomegranates play a role and, yes, cuisine! Weber grasps us, plunks us down in the midst of the early seventies - the age of awakening to free love, restless longing to achieve or at least identify and pursue happiness - and takes us on our heroine’s delightful, laugh-out-loud journey where there is no fact, conclusion or conviction that cannot be questioned, controverted or, at the least, finessed. A parting but essential note - try the recipes; they are as delectable as this novella. - Sherri Felt Dratfield
Weber is the pointillist of prose, crafting prismatic fragments of images that resonate in one’s soul. - Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Baking Bible.
Nancy Weber excels at whatever she puts her pen to. In her rediscovered work, Ad Parnassum, dating from 1973, she invented an entirely new style of writing. The reader has to work at unraveling clues, but it’s worth it when the pieces of the puzzle come together. There’s a double reward, two equally surprising short stories all wrapped up in one package. - Vivian Fancher, Editor, CEOTraveler.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When Nancy Weber was in second grade at Beach Park Elementary School in West Hartford, Connecticut, her poem, Spring, was published in the sixth grade magazine, causing an elation that shaped her life. If she isn’t writing, she’s just taking up space. Her books include two slipstream novels, The Playgroup and Brokenhearted ; eight romances under the name Jennifer Rose; a pair of YA novels, Double Solitaire ; and The Life Swap, the mostly true story of the glorious mess that came about in 1973 when she tried to become Micki Wrangler while Micki was trying to be her. Nancy wrote the American lyrics for Seagull: The Musical with noted Russian composer Alexander Zhurbin. Her pieces on food, sex, travel, and family appear often in www.nycitywoman.com, womensvoicesforchange.org, www.ceotraveler.com, and www.libidoforlife.com. She lives in Greenwich Village, the setting for her next novel, a murder mystery in which lovable swinging seniors are targeted by a repressed food blogger.
