Lost Empress: A Novel

From the acclaimed PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize-winning author of A Naked Singularity, a shockingly hilarious novel that tackles, with equal aplomb, both America's most popular sport and its criminal justice system

From Paterson, New Jersey, to Rikers Island to the streets of New York City, Sergio de la Pava's Lost Empress introduces readers to a cast of characters unlike any other in modern fiction: dreamers and exiles, immigrants and night-shift workers, a lonely pastor and others on the fringes of societyamp;mdash;each with their own impact on the fragile universe they navigate.

Nina Gill, daughter of the aging owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was instrumental in building her father's dynasty. So it's a shock when her brother inherits the franchise and she is left with the Paterson Pork, New Jersey's failing Indoor Football League team. Nina vows to take on the NFL and make the Paterson Pork pigskin kings of America. All she needs to do is recruit the coach, the players, and the fans.

Meanwhile, Nuno DeAngelesamp;mdash;a brilliant and lethal criminal mastermindamp;mdash;has been imprisoned on Rikers Island for a sensational offense. Nuno fights for his libertyamp;mdash;while simultaneously planning an even more audacious crime.

In Lost Empress, de la Pava weaves a narrative that encompasses Salvador Dalí, Joni Mitchell, psychiatric help, emergency medicine, religion, theoretical physics, and everything in between. With grace, humor, and razor-sharp prose, all these threads combine, counting down to an epic and extraordinary conclusion.

Cast of Narrators:
Main Narration amp;mdash; Edoardo Ballerini
Nina Gill amp;mdashp; Carol Monda
Dia Nouveau amp;mdash; Brittany Pressley
Nuno de Angeles amp;mdash; James Fouhey
Major Harris amp;mdash; Bob Bray
Daniel Gill amp;mdash; Richard Topol
Sharon Seaborg amp;mdash; Quincy T. Bernstine
Hugh Seaborg amp;mdash; Ryan Anderson
Coach Elkins amp;mdash; Richard Ferrone
Feniz Heredia amp;mdash; Tony Chiroldes
Larry Brown amp;mdash; Jeff Gurner
Travis Mena amp;mdash; Dan Bittner
Nelson Cervantes amp;mdash; Gonzalo Ingram
Solomon Hanes amp;mdash; David LeDoux
Reeves amp;mdash; Leo Coltrane
Ed Coin amp;mdash; Johnny Heller
Many Mutola amp;mdash; Nick Martorelli
Father Ventimiglia amp;mdash; Mark McCarthy
The Theorist amp;mdash; Geoffrey Campbell
Nina's Father amp;mdash; Richard Poe

Additional roles read by some of the above and by Francisco Burgos, Christina Delaine, Sue Daulton, Karen Dziekonski, Jim Frangione, Tavia Gilbert, Lianna Gomori, Sarah Jaffe, Pete Larkin, Paula Parker, Angel Saldana, Adriana Sananes, Brandon Ruben, Paul Ruben, Jen Rubins, and Dan Zitt.