From the bestselling author of War of the Roses, now a major motion picture: The Roses, starring Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch.

"This novel has a laugh track; Adler's a good storyteller and has an ear for the rhythms of a good joke." - Jewish Journal

1937, Brooklyn.

Ambitious 18-year-old Mickey Fine wants to be a world-famous comic. 17-year-old, plain-Jane, Mutzie Feder longs to have the glamorous life she sees embodied by her idol on the silver screen, Jean Harlow.

Each of them desperately wants to escape their drab everyday lives.

Mickey grabs his opportunity when he is hired to be a comedian and tumler at the famed Catskills resort, Gorlicks Greenhouse. Mutzie moment comes when she is chosen to be "the number one girl" of notorious hit-man "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss or "Pep".

That summer, Pep and Mutzie travel with his Murder Incorporated cohorts for an extended holiday at Gorlicks Greenhouse. As the season progresses, Mickey and Mutzie meet and begin to fall for each other. As their feelings grow, so do Pep's suspicions.

They must find a way out before Pep marks them both for death.