“I salute thee: Julian Berengaut.”
—Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snickett
“In Julian Berengaut’s This Isn’t Easy for Me, two strangers—Sabine, a German physicist, and Renata, an economist and philanthropist—meet for tea, one with a confession, the other a proposition. What follows is not a novel, but a conversation—a conversation that becomes more than a novel. It is a sweeping look at history, love and relationships, science, mathematics, and, most importantly women. Berengaut has written Sabine and Renata with as much tenderness, respect, and understanding as any woman writer.”
—Jen Michalski, The Tide King and Could You Be With Her Now
“Here is a revenge tale of extraordinary strategy and thoughtfulness. In The Estate of Wormwood & Honey, the reader enters a real world generations and nations removed—my great-grandmother’s “Old Russia.” Though the journey of the justice-seeking hero to take and keep the catbird’s seat on his own bitter past leads through some excruciatingly familiar places in the human heart, in the end, this broad-spreading self-understanding is the vehicle to hope.”
—Zofia Burr, Dean, George Mason University
“The novel is without doubt a tour de force. The conversation between Sabine and Renata makes absorbing and fascinating reading.”
—B. Morrison, Monday Morning
The Estate of Wormwood and Honey
When Nicolas returns to Sylvan Hills, the home of his childhood, the estate is filled with scarring memories and a frightful cast of characters. But now circumstances have changed for Nicolas, and with the help of his friend Sergey, he takes control of the estate and settles old scores.
The Book of Comrade Yovskiy
The Biblical story of Job has echoed to us throughout humanity’s long experience with suffering and with searching for gods. In The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov imagined Satan visiting the Soviet Union; The Book of Comrade Yovskiy imagines a Soviet Job facing punishment, searching for the reason why, and trying to face his God.
The Book of Comrade Yovsky is Julian Berenagut’s third novel. His second, This Isn’t Easy for Me, was found by Kirkus to be “remarkable,” “riveting,” “deeply felt” and “one of the most memorable in literature in the last 10 years.
This Isn’t Easy for Me
In its form, This Isn’t Easy for Me is a contemporary conversation, a novel conveyed only by the intense but patient dialogue of two women. In its substance, it is a story that spans decades but is told in one afternoon, a meditation about fidelity and what matters most in the many ways to live, love—and die.
“… the experience is a richly rewarding one, and the surprise ending is poignant without being sentimental. These mature, thoughtful women are unlike almost any others in popular contemporary literature, and their conversation—long, gorgeous, encompassing—is one of the most memorable in literature of the last 10 years.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS
About the Author
His poetry and short stories have been published in Sententia, Everyday Genius, Wayfarer, and other journals. He is the author of two novels: The Estate of Wormwood and Honey and This Isn’t Easy for Me.
Currently, Julian resides in Bangkok, Thailand.
