Lauren Groff’s ‘Fates and Furies’

Finalist For National Book Award

COOPERSTOWN – Cooperstown native Lauren Groff’s latest novel, “Fates and Furies,” was named one of five fiction finalists for the National Book Awards, joining Hanya Yanagihara’s  “A Little Life” and Karen E. Bender’s “Refund.”

Reviews have hailed the novel, which tells in dual narrative of the secrets in a 24-year-old marriage, as  “a master class in best lines” and  proclaimed her “a writer of rare gifts.” It was number nine on the New York Times Best Seller list last week and was also named as a finalist for the 2015 Kirkus Review prize, where it received a starred review.

Groff’s first novel, “Monsters of Templeton” debuted on the New York Times Best Seller in 2008 and her second novel, “Arcadia” also made the Best Seller list in 2012.   She is also the author of the short-story collection “Delicate Edible Birds.”

It’s not the first time Otsego County has seen one of it’s own on the coveted shortlist; in 2013, George Saunders, Oneonta, was a finalist for the prize for his short-story collection, “Tenth of December.”