Darcey Steinke was at Burke’s on April 23rd reading from and signing copies of her new memoir, Easter Everywhere (Bloomsbury, $24.95).
From acclaimed novelist Darcey Steinke, a luminous, heartbreaking, and thoroughly modern update on the spiritual memoir.
The daughter of a minister and a former beauty queen, Darcey Steinke recalls accompanying her father on sick calls, stopping by the scene of accidents, and holding her own pretend wedding and funeral services. Her father's first church was built from a "church kit" and most of the parishioners worked at the local carnival; after that, the family moved frequently and harmony was elusive. A scrappy, stuttering little girl, Darcey saw the mysteries of life and God in even the most mundane childhood activities. In one breathtaking scene after another, Steinke tracks her complex and changing ideas about religion and how these ideas were affected by her mother's nervous breakdown and her father’s struggles with his parish and his own faith. Eventually she turns her back on religion, filling the void with club hopping and romantic obsessions. Only after marriage, motherhood, and divorce is Darcey able to finally accept her essential ignorance and begin, with the help of a remarkable Episcopal nun, the slow process toward a living faith. Easter Everywhere is a rare literary accomplishment, a beautifully crafted, riveting personal story with a huge emotional impact.
"I adore this book. Darcey Steinke beautifully leads us through her lifetime of spiritual seeking, from a childhood spent in the basement of her father's church, through a young adulthood of rebellion, into a mature and profound personal reckoning with the divine. She writes intelligently, honestly, movingly about a subject which is not always easy to address. It's an inspiration."
Darcey Steinke is the author of four novels, two of which were New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her novel Suicide Blonde has been translated into eight languages, and her novel Milk has been translated into four. Her nonfiction has been featured in Vogue, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Village Voice, Spin, the Boston Review, and the New York Times Magazine. She currently teaches at both Columbia University and New School University in New York City. She lives with her daughter in Brooklyn.
