The Acrobat
2022

Delaney writes simply and beautifully about Grant . . . crafting a character who's essentially character-less. He's sensitive to how . . . masks change, how hard they are to remove."

--Mark Athitakis, Los Angeles Times

 

"Imagination meets biography in this novel about Cary Grant. . . . Grant's life is not the happily-ever-after film where hero and heroine kiss as the credits roll. Instead he is alone and frightened, desperate to be seen, to be heard, to be loved. . . . A beautifully imagined, sympathetic portrait of a flawed icon."

--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

 

"[A] splendid fictional biography of Cary Grant, charting the film star's path toward an 'endless conundrum of fame.'. . . Delaney vividly captures the intoxicating andtoxic fumes of Hollywood, where 'egos go to be crushed, ' and presents analluring amalgam of fact and fiction. Breezy and entertaining, Delaney'sportrait perfectly befits the glamour and fakery of his subject."

--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

 

"As well as being historically interesting, Delaney's novel is topical because it sheds light on the current 'psychedelic renaissance' of the past 15 years. . . . [It] asks the contemporary reader, Can we learn something from Cary Grant's cathartic trips? . . . Delaney's prose captures the elasticity of expanded consciousness but also the unpredictable and surreal moments that inevitably transpire."

--James Penner, Los Angeles Review of Books

 

"The intermingling of fiction with truth captures the essence of Grant as a Hollywood leading man, but also as just a man, withfoibles, hopes, and fears. The Acrobat is an artistic biographical novel aboutone of the greatest actors of all time."--Foreword Reviews"A book for biography fans, for literary fiction fans, for movie fans, The Acrobat matches its graceful, stylish subject in style and grace. Delaney has both captured a man we know and given us a character by whom we are constantly surprised."

--Darin Strauss, author of The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story