Elena Mauli Shapiro
In The Red
(Little, Brown, September 2014)
When Irina—Romanian by birth but brought up by American parents who have never understood her—arrives at college she quickly abandons ordinary student life for an affair with an older, mysterious Romanian man named Andrei.
Andrei awakens a powerful sensuality in Irina. And he has money—lots of it. For the first time, Irina feels free. But the longer she stays with Andrei, the more she is certain that she can’t leave, and that she may be complicit in Andrei’s “work.” Then an unexpected friendship with a young Russian bride opens the door to escape, and also revenge.
A tantalizing, edgy exploration of women and love, power and money—interwoven with potent, unusual, and nervy Romanian fairy tales—In The Red asks what the legacy of love is, and who will be left unscathed.
Elena Mauli Shapiro’s debut novel 13, rue Thérèse (LB, 2011) received critical acclaim and sold more than 25,000 copies.
Praise for In The Red
“In The Red is an absolutely dazzling book, a nuanced and haunting meditation on moralty, love, crime, and belonging. In a word, this book is brilliant.”
–Emily St. John Mandel, author of The Lola Quartet
“In the Red has all the elements that make for a down-the-rabbit-hole story: it’s exotic, dangerous, deviant, delicious. But this is also essential reading about sex and identity–how trauma informs first loves and relationships open old wounds. Shapiro understands the balance sheet of power between men and women better than any other writer out there. In the Red deserves a place beside Colette and Anaïs Nin on every woman’s bookshelf.”
―Koren Zailckas, author of Mother, Mother and Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
“A sophisticated character study… Shapiro’s deft leaps forward in time and frequent use of eerie Romanian folk tales help make this dark story a multilayered literary treat.”
―Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Shapiro has written a deeply dark yet strangely uplifting second novel, about a woman beginning to find herself, discovering her own power and the tools to make use of it.”
―Booklist
“Shapiro…blends elements of noir, fairy tales and revenge in this taut tale of power and identity.”
―San Jose Mercury News
Read about IN THE RED at The Millions
Emily St. John Mandel names In the Red as her favorite book of 2014 in the Wall Street Journal
Read the Minneapolis Star-Tribue review of IN THE RED
Elena Shapiro was born and raised in Paris. She holds a BA in English from Stanford University, an MFA in fiction from Mills College, and an MA in comparative literature from the University of California, Davis. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband.