CARMIEL BANASKY launches her debut novel THE SUICIDE OF CLAIRE BISHOP, with TIM HEIDECKER

The Suicide of Claire Bishop (Dzanc Books)

A Greenwich Village housewife and a present-day schizophrenic find their fates inextricably linked by a mysterious painting as they both battle issues with family, mental illness, love, and the true nature of reality...

Greenwich Village, 1959. Claire Bishop sits for a portrait—a gift from her husband—only to discover that what the artist has actually depicted is Claire’s suicide. Haunted by the painting, Claire is forced to redefine herself within a failing marriage and a family history of madness. Shifting ahead to 2004, we meet West, a young man with schizophrenia who is obsessed with a painting he encounters in a gallery: a mysterious image of a woman’s suicide. Convinced it was painted by an ex-girlfriend with whom he is obsessed, West constructs an elaborate delusion involving time-travel, Hasidism, art-theft, and the terrifying power of representation. When the two characters finally meet, in the present, delusions are shattered and lives are forever changed.

With West as our tenderly vulnerable and highly unreliable guide, and high stakes that reach across American history, Carmiel Banasky effortlessly juggles balls of madness, art theft, and Time itself, holding the reader in a thrall of language and personal consequences. Gripping, sexy, emotional, The Suicide of Claire Bishop is a dazzling debut that heralds Banasky as an important new talent.

Praise for The Suicide of Claire Bishop

“Banasky’s memorable, intricate, and inventive debut novel uses vulnerable characters to probe themes of time, identity, perception, and love...With its dancing time frames, recurring motifs, glimpses of history, and shifting realities, all united by striking prose, the novel is both an intellectual tour de force and a moving reflection on the ways we try to save ourselves and others.”—Publishers Weekly

“Daring, precise, and linguistically acrobatic, this novel brings a history of America alive, from the war protests in the sixties to turn-of-the-21st-century art theft. A fearless portrayal of madness and its consequences, Carmiel Banasky’s debut novel tracks the life of a suicidal housewife and her unlikely, schizophrenic counterpart. This is a new writer to savor, reminiscent of Nicole Krauss, Michael Chabon, and Andy Sean Greer.”—Colum McCann, National Book Award-winning author of Let the Great World Spin

“Vivid, strange and always compelling, The Suicide of Claire Bishop weaves together art, politics and the specter of madness in an unforgettable New York story. Carmiel Banasky, a writer like no other, is a talent to watch.”—Claire Messud, author ofThe Emperor’s Children

Carmiel Banasky is a writer and teacher from Portland, OR, who now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared inGlimmer Train, American Short Fiction, Slice, Guernica, PEN America, The Rumpus, and NPR, among other places. She earned her MFA from Hunter College and is the recipient of awards and fellowships from Bread Loaf, Ucross, Ragdale, Artist Trust, I-Park, and other foundations.

Tim Heidecker was born and raised in Allentown, PA. He has collaborated with Eric Wareheim on Tom Goes to The Mayor and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, which aired five seasons on Cartoon Network. Tim and Eric also created a spin off show starring John C. Reilly called Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule, which has run for two seasons. In 2012 Tim co-wrote, directed, and starred in his first feature film, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, which was produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Tim’s most recent collaboration with Eric was for an anthology series, Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories, which premiered on Adult Swim in September of 2014. Tim also has a musical side project Heidecker & Wood.