Who Is Vera Kelly? (A Vera Kelly Story, 1) - Softcover

Rosalie Knecht is the author of Who Is Vera Kelly? and Relief Map. She is the translator of César Aira's The Seamstress and the Wind (New Directions) and a Center for Fiction Emerging Writer Fellow. She resides in New York City.

“Gripping, subtle, magnificently written . . . This is a cool, strolling boulevardier of a book, worldly, wry, unrushed but never slow, which casts its gaze upon the middle of the last century and forces us to consider how it might be failing us still.”
- The New York Times Book Review

“Knecht’s novel is a slow-burn espionage thriller, a complex treatment of queer identity, and an immersive period piece all rolled into one delectable page-turner . . . Vera Kelly introduces a fascinating new spy to literature’s mystery canon―one we hope sticks around long beyond this snappy, intimate debut.”
- Entertainment Weekly

“The personal is most definitely political in Rosalie Knecht's crisp, lively and subversive second novel, Who Is Vera Kelly? . . . John le Carré and many other writers make hay with the personal repercussions of assuming false identity. Knecht flips the terms artfully, showing us a heroine who discovers her true tough self by going undercover.”
- NPR

“Thanks to Rosalie Knecht's clever, hilarious writing, you'll find yourself wanting everyone you know to read it so that you can discuss together the wholly original, brilliantly subversive character that is Vera Kelly.”
- NYLON

“A splendid genre-pushing thriller . . . A fractured coming-out in the repressive '50s primed Vera for a life of deception―but in Knecht's expert hands she's smart and complicated, yearning for connection in a tumultuous world.”
- People Magazine

“Forget about 007. This heroine has her own brand of spycraft. . . . Given the current popularity of ‘women-in-trouble’ psychological suspense tales, where much of the action takes place in the heroine’s anxious mind, it’s refreshing to read a novel where a capable young woman not only knows how to fix an electrical short in a transformer, but also how to maneuver around the homophobic biases of her own era.”
- The Washington Post

“A refreshing and idiosyncratic Cold War spy novel.”
- BBC Culture

“The character readers have been waiting for. A riveting, satisfying novel.”
- Kirkus Reviews

“A buzzing, smoky, gin-soaked charmer.”
- Library Journal, Hot Picks

“When we first meet Vera Kelly, she’s a troubled 1950s teenager who’s overdosed on Equanil. Next she’s in explosive 1960s Buenos Aires after being recruited by the CIA (“I could be charming if I wanted to. There were basic tricks”). . . . All the edgy fun of classic noir but in an original voice that’s fresh, brisk, and snappy. Hugely buzzing.”
- Library Journal, Most Anticipated Books of Spring/Summer