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More about Three Lives in New York


“With its title reminiscent of Getrude Stein, Three Lives in New York is a triumph! I loved the setting during the gritty 1970s..., the treatment of the Bronx and outer boroughs in relation to Manhattan, Adelman’s wizardry in writing about characters from different ethnic backgrounds, the touching love story between Gartner and Dorie, Natalie’s professional anxiety set against the backdrop of the city’s fiscal crisis, and the Max Arnold story—I adored Max, a rueful Jewish émigré who, in the opening pages of this novel, learns he is about to receive an unexpected inheritance.–
J. Bret Maney, City University of New York

Kirkus Reviews calls Three Lives in New York, “Excellent...Adelman’s novel is gentle and empathetic and never shies away from the pain and suffering that its characters face. Its dialogue is its greatest strength, bringing each character to vivid life.”

(7/21/26) Read the Kirkus Review here

Three Lives in New York is sold
by The Corner Bookstore
1313 Madison Ave. at 93rd St.
Order by email:
info@cornerbookstorenyc.com
By phone:
212-831-3554


This first novel is about a decisive February day for three employees of a troubled Manhattan real estate company.  The bookkeeper, a traumatized Jewish survivor, must travel alone to the Bronx to obtain a strange inheritance.  The company’s president, a former debutante, is frightened by the probable consequences of a kickback scheme. The blunt vice president, a secular Jew, plans to make amends to the girlfriend he’s deeply hurt. Set in the turbulent New York of 1977, the day ends with changes--great and small--for all of them.

“Three Lives in New York is a magnificent book, packed with drama and detail. Adelman has achieved a small masterpiece of Jewish New York life.” --Norman Zamcheck, pianist, composer, educator

Read an Excerpt

“I was surprised by the tears in my eyes when I finished this book. It's excellent. It's such good writing that shows a slice of interconnected New York life, and I particularly liked the cabbies in each section. Quite an achievement to flesh out a whole story and have the different parts dovetail so well. And to have such an atmospheric feel of the real estate company, the streets of Manhattan (and the Bronx) and the lights and bridges of NYC” - Mara Sokolsky, former columnist for The Forward

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                                                           I have not and never will use AI to write. 

© Beth Adelman 2026