Anthony Marra reads from Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel (Hogarth, 2022)

In his third novel Anthony Marra recounts a story of Roman immigrant Maria Lagana who has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. On the eve of the US entry into World War II, she is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart. While the world descends into war, Maria rises through a maze of conflicting politics, divided loyalties, and jockeying ambitions. But when a stranger from her father’s past threatens her carefully constructed façade, she must confront her father’s fate—and her own. Written with intelligence, wit, and an exhilarating sense of possibility, Mercury Pictures Presents presents a love letter to life’s bit players and a tour de force.

“A genuinely moving and life-affirming novel that’s a true joy to read.”

—Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere