The New York Century

"Glass Century" arrives

I believe my best writing, to date, is my novel Glass Century. And here’s the good news: you can pre-order Glass Century now, which will be out on May 6, 2025.

Glass Century is an ambitious, panoramic social novel tracing a long-running, illicit love affair and the arc of a troubled family from the 1970s to the start of the pandemic. It is my attempt to grapple with America, New York City, and the forces that shape us. It roves through the fiscal crisis, features a murderous vigilante, reckons with September 11th, and has plenty of tennis, for those who are sports-inclined. Donald Trump, as a young man, has a brief cameo as a character. The other day, someone asked me what this novel was like, and I settled on “Jewish Don DeLillo.” It ain’t autofiction, that’s for sure. It’s not going to bore you. The narrative is propulsive. If you like how I write already, you will love this book.

Please pre-order the hardcover edition now. Due to a glitch that is currently getting resolved, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are listing paperback editions for sale. They aren’t actually for sale. Order the hardcover. There won’t be a paperback first edition! (You can also order on Bookshop.org)

If you want to pre-order an audiobook, you can! Please order it here.

If you want to review and need a NetGalley version, here’s the widget.

Here’s the deal: pre-orders matter a lot. They determine how many books bookstores order and what kind of coverage you get. They are everything for authors.

If you want to support me and my writing in any form, please pre-order Glass Century. More than 15,000 of you subscribe to this newsletter, which is incredible. Less than 1,000 pay. I get it. $60 a year for one writer—why bother, right?

Well, my beloved free readers, here’s a fun opportunity: my book only costs $33.99. That’s almost half the price of a Substack subscription. If you read me for free and like what I do—and if you want me to keep at it—support me by ordering a book. It’s a great deal for you. If even half of you pre-order a book, I’ve got a shot at the Times best-seller list. Wouldn’t that be fun? (And if you are a paid reader, you are amazing, and you should also pre-order Glass Century.)

Before I get to the blurbs, I have one other request. I plan to do a book launch in May in New York City, which all of you are invited to. My publicist and I are currently planning where else I should go. My last two books came out during Covid so my touring schedule was quite limited.

If you live in another city and would like me to give a reading or a talk, please let me know. A touring schedule will be shaped by demand. Email me directly at ross@rossbarkan.com and let’s chat. You can also contact my publicist, Emi Battaglia, at emi@emibattaglia.com.

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Here are what some very talented writers have said about Glass Century so far.

“A smart, stylish and original New York novel. Barkan knows the city inside and out, and Glass Century evokes the New York of the 70s as well as any recent work of fiction I can think of while also centering a powerful, decades-long love story that is as complex and believable as it is ultimately moving.”

—Adelle Waldman, author of Help Wanted and The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

“Tennis and love and the city, and the insatiable fire that is history. Glass Century has it all. Barkan's novel is both a marvelous paean to NYC and a spectacularly moving novel.”

—Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and This Is How You Lose Her

“Glass Century is old-fashioned in a good way, moving storytelling in the classic social realist style about the only taboo kink left, adultery.”

—Nell Zink, National Book Award-longlisted author of Mislaid and Avalon

“The soundtrack to Ross Barkan's new novel should be a wailing siren. Glass Century keeps pace with an anxious and changing New York as it tracks its protagonists from the Fear City day of the early seventies through September 11 and onward to the trauma of COVID-19. Generous and funny, this smart, expansive book kept me utterly engrossed.”

—Christopher Sorrentino, National Book Award finalist and author of Trance and Now Beacon, Now Sea

“You won't be able to put it down. Ross Barkan captures 'the drift of time away from wherever you used to be.' You are all the characters, each scene engrossing as quicksand, sucking you in. It starts like an inverse Taming of the Shrew (you nearly plotz with laughing) and transforms into a profound meditation on marriage, tennis, family, politics and the vicissitudes of life. Glass Century, with its two main characters, Mona Glass and Saul Plotz, mirrors the monumental twin towers that loom in the novel: 'the ocean of dark sky pressed against the long, thick glass.”
—Jill Hoffman, author of Jilted and The Gates of Pearl

“Barkan ambitiously reconciles the restlessness and enormity of the last half century without succumbing to the pretense and superficiality of idealism or relatability. This alone is a feat, but by its end, we have become the empire and the empire has become us.”
—Zain Khalid, Young Lions Award-winning author of Brother Alive

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I’ll have much more to say about Glass Century in the future, and I will certainly be bothering you more about it. I might even feature an excerpt here. Stay tuned!