Grove Press continues the reissue of Bruce Jay Friedman’s critically acclaimed fiction with two classic novels by the comedic genius whose work Nelson Algren hailed as more interesting than most of Malamud, Roth, and Bellow … [and] more important .

Friedman’s first novel, Stern, tells the story of a young Jewish man who relocates his family from the city to the suburbs, where they are besieged by voracious caterpillars and a bigotry that ranges from the genteel snub to outright confrontation. The Current Climate continues the hilarious misadventures of the screen-writer from Friedman’s novel About Harry Towns. Harry is now twenty years older and living in New York, a frustrated playwright struggling to sell a TV series to make some quick cash – and paralyzed by the decision of whether or not he should get tickets to see Cats.