In Person Book Launch: CONFIDENCE by Rafael Frumkin

Join us for an in-person event celebrating Confidence by Rafael Frumkin. For this event, Frumkin will be in conversation with Julia Fine.

Please note: Pre-registration for this event is required. By pre-registering, you are verifying that you are fully vaccinated and will wear a mask throughout the entirety of the event.

Best friends (and occasional lovers) Ezra and Orson are teetering on top of the world after founding a company that promises instant enlightenment in this thrilling caper about scams, schemes, and the absurdity of the American Dream.

At seventeen, Ezra Green doesn’t have a lot going for him: he’s shorter than average, snaggle-toothed, internet-addicted, and halfway to being legally blind. He’s also on his way to Last Chance Camp, the final stop before juvie.

But Ezra’s summer at Last Chance turns life-changing when he meets Orson, brilliant and Adonis-like with a mind for hustling. Together, the two embark upon what promises to be a fruitful career of scam artistry. But when they try to pull off their biggest scam yet—Nulife, a corporation that promises its consumers a lifetime of bliss—things start to spin wildly out of control.

Searing and charming, with the suspense of The Talented Mr. Ripley, the decadence of The Great Gatsby, and the wit of Succession, Confidence is a story for anyone who knows that the American Dream is just another pyramid scheme.

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Rafael Frumkin is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the Medill School of Journalism. His first novel, The Comedown, was published by Henry Holt in 2018 to critical acclaim. His Collection, Bugsy & Other Stories, is forthcoming. He lives with his partner, two cats, and one dog in Carbondale, Illinois, where he is an assistant professor of creative writing at Southern Illinois University.

Julia Fine is the author of The Upstairs House, winner of the Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, and What Should Be Wild, which was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Superior First Novel Award. Her third novel, Maddalena and the Dark, is forthcoming in June 2023. She teaches writing in Chicago, where she lives with her husband and children.

Accessibility: Email [email protected] with questions or to request accommodations.

Image Description: A light red banner with the faint pattern of open books. Two larger photographic portraits are of the author, Rafael Frumkin, and the moderator, Julia Fine. Centered between these two images is the book cover for CONFIDENCE. The text reads, "Women and Children First Present Rafael Frumkin in conversation with Julia Fine, Wednesday, March 8th, 7PM CST, masks and proof of vaccination required."

Host or Publisher Women & Children First