Garbo Laughs

Safely ensconced at the centre of a tight group of cinephiles is tall, dreamy Harriet Browning, a woman inflamed by the movies she was deprived of as a child. With her eyes so intent on the screen, she fails to see her real-life leading man, whose own glances are about to seek out greener fields. Even the most fervent cinematic addiction can’t keep reality—with its sudden shocks and shifting allegiances—at bay forever. Garbo Laughs is a bittersweet comedy of secondhand desire, a virtuoso novel about the costs and rewards of falling in love with the movies.