The Writing on the Wall : Rediscovering New York City's 'Ghost Signs'

When Vera decides to travel to an old house in the New England countryside for a month-long escape from some devastating news about her daughter, Cassie, she has no idea her life is about to change forever. It begins innocently enough—peeling the old wallpaper from the walls as a favor to the houseвЂTMs owner. What she discovers underneath—written in India ink on the very walls of the house by a woman named Beth, in 1919—is the beginning of the readerвЂTMs unsettling crossing into the unknown world underneath the paper. The Writing on the Wall is a brilliantly realized journey into the connected lives of three women whose stories span a century, linked by the house they all briefly inhabit, and by the tragedies they've had to endure. And it's not just their own stories that reveal themselves. A brilliant schoolteacher, back from the war in the trenches, finds the pupils of his dreams. A young Vietnam draftee makes a stubbornly quirky separate peace. The moody, dangerously charismatic leader of a commune becomes the unlikeliest of heroes. An “ordinary” housewife's lonely battle propels her onto the national stage. A girl sent to Iraq tries making sense of the chaos and the pain. The Writing on the Wall is about stories that can't be told, but must be told—about secrets that can't be shared, but must be shared—and the surprising ways people find to confront the truth. From Booklist In his latest novel, Wetherell (Hills like White Hills, 2009) finds a unique way to tell the stories of three women. Vera Savino retreats to the old New England house her sister owns in the wake of her daughterвЂTMs disgrace during a stint in the army. Vera insists on undertaking the remodeling project her sister planned, and she begins by stripping off the wallpaper. Underneath the many layers, she discovers a memoir of sorts written in tiny handwriting by Beth, a young woman who resided in the house in 1919. Vera becomes caught up in BethвЂTMs confessions about her desire to continue her education after her marriage and her feelings for a charismatic teacher. As Vera strips the walls to follow BethвЂTMs story, she discovers that another woman has followed suit. Dottie, a housewife who lived in the house in the 1960s, hid her son Andy, who went AWOL from the army. BethвЂTMs and DottieвЂTMs struggles help Vera find the courage to take her pen to the wall to recount the horrifying secret her daughter shared with her. --Kristine Huntley Review “W. D. Wetherell is a fearless acrobat with words and narrative structures. His work, filled with humor, warmth and wisdom, asks us to re-examine our recent history.” ( Chicago Tribune ) “W.D. Wetherell has a sharp, fresh eye and a complicated view of our dislocations, pains and dreams.” ( New York Times )

When Vera decides to travel to an old house in the New England countryside for a month-long escape from some devastating news about her daughter, Cassie, she has no idea her life is about to change forever. It begins innocently enough—peeling the old wallpaper from the walls as a favor to the house’s owner. What she discovers underneath—written in India ink on the very walls of the house by a woman named Beth, in
1919—is the beginning of the reader’s unsettling crossing into the unknown world underneath the paper.

The Writing on the Wall is a brilliantly realized journey into the connected lives of three women whose stories span a century, linked by the house they all briefly inhabit, and by the tragedies they've had to endure.

And it's not just their own stories that reveal themselves. A brilliant schoolteacher, back from the war in the trenches, finds the pupils of his dreams. A young Vietnam draftee makes a stubbornly quirky separate peace. The moody, dangerously charismatic leader of a commune becomes the unlikeliest of heroes. An “ordinary” housewife's lonely battle propels her onto the national stage. A girl sent to Iraq tries making sense of the chaos and the pain.

The Writing on the Wall is about stories that can't be told, but must be told—about secrets that can't be shared, but must be shared—and the surprising ways people find to confront the truth.

The New York Times'pick in'A Holiday Gift Guide for Hardcover Fans'A Publishers Weekly pick in'Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Illustrated Gift Books'A Photographic and Historical Record of the City's Vanishing Advertisements As the great city of New York moves, changes, and evolves every day, the few remnants of its past go unnoticed. New York City's “ghost signs” —advertisements painted across the facades of buildings that date back to the 19th century—are often invisible to the busy New Yorker, but defiantly conspicuous if only we turn our eyes and look upwards. These faded representations of the city's rich economic and social history are slowly disappearing before our eyes, but not before they were captured by this photographer's lens.At the tender age of sixteen, Ben Passikoff roamed around Manhattan with his camera to document these fascinating signs—hand-painted messages written all over the city. This photographic collection features signs painted in the 1800s as well as in the 21st century; signs that advertise funeral homes, meat, and underwear; signs stretched across iconic buildings; and even signs that are no longer legible. Using his photographs as a looking-glass into the past, Passikoff provides insightful commentary on the economic, social, and historical significance of commerce in New York City, and its vanishing ghost signs, now preserved in this photographic record. Fleeing to a New England countryside house after receiving devastating news about her daughter, Vera discovers the writings of three women who endured tragedy, war, and secrets in the house in respective historical periods