Stephanie Danler

*A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | A USA TODAY BESTSELLER | AN INDIE BESTSELLER* A lush, thrilling debut about a year in the life of a uniquely beguiling young woman, set in the wild, alluring world of a famous downtown New York restaurant. "Let's say I was born when I came over the George Washington Bridge..." This is how we meet unforgettable Tess, the 22-year-old at the heart of this stunning debut. Shot like a bullet from a mundane past, she's come to New York to escape the provincial, to take on her destiny. After she stumbles into a coveted job at a renowned Union Square restaurant, we spend the year with her as she learns the chaotic, punishing, privileged life of a "backwaiter," on and off duty. Her appetites are awakened, for food, wine, knowledge and experience; and she's pulled into the thrall of two other servers--a handsome bartender she falls hard for, and an older woman whose connection to both young lovers is murky, sensual, and overpowering. These two will prove to be Tess's hardest lesson of all. Sweetbitter is a story about discovery, enchantment, and the power of what remains after disillusionment.

Tess, una veinteañera inexperta, llega a Nueva York desde su pequeña ciudad provinciana en el verano de 2006. No tiene amigos y apenas dinero. Sólo cuenta con una habitación alquilada en Brooklyn y una curiosidad infinita. Cuando consigue un trabajo como camarera suplente en un conocido restaurante de Manhattan todo un mundo se abre ante ella. Su relato abarcara ese primer año de descubrimientos: ostras, champagne, borgoña, cocaina, amistad, lujuria, amor y bares de mala muerte. Tess se deja arrastrar por Simone, una camarera experimentada que se convertira en mentora, y se enamorara de Jake, un camarero atractivo y misterioso que tambien mantiene una relacion inquebrantable con Simone. Cuando esa relacion se convierta en triangulo, Tess aprendera la leccion mas importante de su vida.Stephanie Danler vive en Brooklyn. Tiene un master en escritura creativa por la New School, que logro despues de trabajar como camarera en Manhattan durante siete años. "Dulceagrio" es su primera novela y el resultado de ambas experiencias.

You will develop a palate. A palate is a spot on your tongue where you remember. Where you assign words to the textures of taste. Eating becomes a discipline, language-obsessed. You will never simply eat food again. These are the words that introduce us to Tess, the twenty-two-year-old narrator of Sweetbitterand you will never again read a debut coming-of-age novel as stunning as this one. Shot from a mundane, provincial past, Tess comes to New York in the stifling summer of 2006. Alone, knowing no one, living in a rented room in Williamsburg, she manages to land a job as a backwaiter at a celebrated downtown Manhattan restaurant. This begins the year we spend with Tess as she starts to navigate the chaotic, enchanting, punishing, and privileged life she has chosen, as well as the remorseless and luminous city around her. What follows is her education: in oysters, Champagne, the appellations of Burgundy, friendship, cocaine, lust, love, and dive bars. As her appetites awakenfor food and wine, but also for knowledge, experience, and belongingwe see her helplessly drawn into a darkly alluring love triangle. With an orphans ardor she latches onto Simone, a senior server at the restaurant who has lived in ways Tess only dreams of, and against the warnings of coworkers she falls under the spell of Jake, the elusive, tatted up, achingly beautiful bartender. These two and their enigmatic connection to each other will prove to be Tesss most exhilarating and painful lesson of all. Stephanie Danler intimately defines the crucial transition from girl to woman, from living in a place that feels like nowhere to living in a place that feels like the center of the universe. She deftly conjures the nonstop and purely adrenalized world of the restaurantconversations interrupted, phrases overheard, relationships only partially revealed. And she evokes the infinite possibilities, the unbearable beauty, the fragility and brutality of being young in New York with heart-stopping accuracy. A lush novel of the sensesof taste and hunger, seeing and understanding, love and desireSweetbitter is ultimately about the power of what remains after disillusionment, and the transformation and wisdom that come from our experiences, sweet and bitter. From the Hardcover edition

A remarkable literary debut: a young womans coming-of-age story, set against the glitzy, grimy backdrop of New Yorks most elite restaurants.Newly arrived in New York City, twenty-two-year-old Tess lands a job as a backwaiter at a celebrated downtown Manhattan restaurant. What follows is the story of her education: in champagne and cocaine, love and lust, dive bars and fine dining rooms, as she learns to navigate the chaotic, enchanting, punishing life she has chosen. As her appetites awakenfor food and wine, but also for knowledge, experience, and belongingTess finds herself helplessly drawn into a darkly alluring love triangle. In Sweetbitter, Stephanie Danler deftly conjures with heart-stopping accuracy the nonstop and high-adrenaline world of the restaurant industry and evokes the infinite possibilities, the unbearable beauty, and the fragility and brutality of being young in New York.