Release Date: May 3, 2022
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-084-8
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-57869-085-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021923405
eBook: 978-1-57869-086-2
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Here.

SYNOPSIS

“You sing your songs and maybe you go for a walk or a beer, but at some point your brain must remind you that your audience is back there dying.”

From the author of The Marriage Hearse, a New York Times New & Noteworthy selection, and The Handsome Sailor, a New York Times Notable Book, comes a new novel that explores the little-known world of hospice singing—home visit concerts for the dying—through the surprising relationship between one of the singers, 66-year-old Ian Nelson, and a beautiful young woman, Anita Richardson, to whom his choir sings.

Ian, retired from a career as a high school guidance counselor, long married, and the father of two, considers himself an ordinary man. He is intelligent, engaging, more attractive than he seems to know, and, as the son of a minister, determinedly moral. Meeting Anita threatens it all. His attraction and connection to this much younger woman—who, to complicate matters, is dying—upends his quiet New England life.

In richly detailed, finely honed prose threaded through with Larry Duberstein’s characteristic humor and compassion, The Hospice Singer explores the hidden complexities of life in small town America. 

PRAISE

“Through sharply imagined scenes and deft dialogue, with prose so colorful and precise it borders on poetry, Duberstein skillfully conjures a man who finds himself through loss. In this picaresque page turner, The Hospice Singer grabs your attention and will not let you go.”

–Dale Rosengarten, author of Grass Roots and A Portion of the People

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“Getting inside Ian’s head so thoroughly, entertaining us with a delightful cast of characters, and consistently derailing expectations and cliches, Larry Duberstein tells this story with wit, originality, and great heart. The Hospice Singer once again rewards us with the Duberstein touch of sweet, sad surprise.”

–Joan Baum, book critic for Connecticut’s NPR station WSHU
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“This is a nuanced and intimate portrait of a man paddling through the swamp of a late midlife crisis. The Hospice Singer finds Larry Duberstein at the top of his game as he masterfully explores the tragedy behind all human comedy—and vice-versa.”

–Marc Schuster, author of Tired of California and The Grievers

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“In The Hospice Singer, a novel about both a road trip and a personal transformation, Larry Duberstein writes convincingly of a protagonist who seems unremarkable but will surprise the reader by the end.”

–George Longenecker, review in Rain Taxi

Praise for Earlier Work

“Mr. Duberstein has an eye and an ear for the truly comic, and he packs a lot of bittersweet humor and unfailing insight into a mere 244 pages.”

–New York Times Book Review (Postcards From Pinsk)

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“Duberstein explores his characters with wit, sympathy, and an infectious enthusiasm.”

–Los Angeles Reader (Eccentric Circles: Stories)

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“Duberstein is a skilled writer who pulls readers into his story without their realizing it, and he uses the novel as a platform for his gently skewed view of life. Between the lines he is talking about basic human qualities. About loneliness and friendship, love and disappointment. About how people relate to each other and why compassion might just be the most important trait a human being can have.”

–Milwaukee Journal (Carnovsky’s Retreat) 

Reviews & In the News

Rain Taxi, Volume 27, Number 3, Fall 2022 (#107): The Hospice Singer | Larry Duberstein | by George Longenecker

Sentinel Source, May 10, 2022: Hancock author to discuss his new novel at Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough

Kirkus Reviews, May 25, 2022: An entertaining, reflective novel with layered characters.

The Authors Guild, May 27, 2022: The Writing Life Member Spotlight: Larry Duberstein

MEET THE AUTHOR