“Kings County crystallizes how it feels to be young and in love in New York City.”
— Stephanie Danler
Overview
It’s the early 2000s and like generations of ambitious young people before her, Audrey Benton arrives in New York City on a bus from nowhere. Broke but resourceful, she soon finds a home for herself amid the burgeoning music scene in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But the city’s freedom comes with risks, and Audrey makes compromises to survive. As she becomes a minor celebrity in indie rock circles, she finds an unlikely match in Theo Gorski, a shy but idealistic mill-town kid who’s struggling to establish himself in the still-patrician world of books. But then an old acquaintance of Audrey’s disappears under mysterious circumstances, sparking a series of escalating crises that force the couple to confront a dangerous secret from her past.
From the raucous heights of Occupy Wall Street to the comical lows of the publishing industry, from million-dollar art auctions to Bushwick drug dens, Kings County captures New York City at a moment of cultural reckoning. Grappling with the resonant issues and themes of our time—sex and violence, art and commerce, friendship and family—it is an epic coming-of-age tale about love, consequences, bravery, and fighting for one’s place in an ever-changing world.
“He kissed her again and then ventured back down the shallow steps. Audrey’s eyes trailed after him. So often he looked like the only man in a room full of boys. But it was more than his size. It was the way he moved, with sureness and deliberate grace — like there’d always be time.”
From Chapter One of Kings County
“Kings County is a heart-wrenching love story, a character-driven suspense novel, and a lush thrill-ride through the New York City aughts. For some of us who lived in Brooklyn at the turn of the century, it’s a meticulous period piece that doesn’t sacrifice immediacy for the nostalgia it provokes. For those who didn’t, it’s a scintillating glimpse into the zeitgeist that followed 9/11—the music, movements, and sense of impending upheaval that foretold our chaotic present.”
— Melissa Febos, author of Abandon Me
“With Tom Wolfean sociological precision, David Goodwillie casts an insider’s eye on the Brooklyn creative class in a gripping novel as suspenseful as it is panoramic. Kings County is a grand, galloping ride.”
— Teddy Wayne, author of Apartment