The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty is a star-studded novel based on the true story of the muse who inspired Hemingway, Picasso, and Fitzgerald amid the decadence and decline of the jazz age
Literary LitStackers, listen up! Another beauty is in presale now. Köehler Books invites readers on a journey into The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty, the debut novel by Kirsten Mickelwait. The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty, will be published by Köehler Books May 27, 2025. Early indications suggest a work of profound literary exploration. The evocative description and cover art hint at a reading experience sure to resonate with discerning readers. Here’s the advance reader word on the book. Consider The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty a literary must own and pre-order today.
In This Spotlight On The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty
About The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty
Raised in New York’s Gilded Age, pampered heiress Sara Wiborg dreams of a more creative life than the rigid future prescribed for her. It’s only when she meets Gerald Murphy that she finds a man who shares her creative, aesthetic ideal and, after a friendship of eleven years, they marry despite the strong disapproval of her family.
Against the sizzling Jazz Age backdrop of 1920s Paris and Antibes, Sara’s innate style and gift for friendship attract the bohemian elite of the new century-including Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, and Dorothy Parker. But by the 1930s, her fortune is lost and tragedy strikes-not once, but twice. Sara’s strength and resilience allow her to find a new equilibrium over time, long after the parties have ended.
A heartbreaking story of love and loss, The Ashtrays Are Full and the Glasses Are Empty follows Sara through her very modern life to reveal how tragedy can be healed by faith, unconditional love, and a creative mind.
Praise for The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty
“Fans of Paula McLain and Marie Benedict will enjoy this insightful novel.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Kirsten Mickelwait writes down to the very bone of the Lost Generation’s artists, writers, and families, revealing a past that was not archaic but a glittering guide to today. Weaving stunningly intricate details with a grandiose sweep, Mickelwait provides a jewel box of a book illustrating that none of us invented the fight for a singular creative life. The remarkable guide, Sara Murphy, hooked me from the first page, and I’ve mourned her since turning the last. I loved this book.”—Randy Susan Meyers, international bestselling author of The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone
“The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty transports readers back to the Paris and Côte d’Azur of the 1920s, slipping us into the luxury- and adventure-filled life of Sara and Gerald Murphy. Both quickly become dear to us, but it is Sara-channeling her creativity into making life beautiful for others-who captures our hearts. When personal tragedy and history bring an end to this charmed life, we grieve along with Sara and Gerald as they struggle to find acceptance and peace. This novel will inspire, entertain, and move you in equal measure.”—Anne Matlack Evans, author of The Light Through the Branches
About Kirsten Mickelwait, Author of The Ashtrays are Full and the Glasses are Empty
Kirsten Mickelwait is the author of The Ghost Marriage, a memoir published in 2021. She is an alumna of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, the Napa Valley Writers Conference, and several other writers’ workshops. Her love of literature was ignited as an English major at UC Berkeley, where she discovered James Joyce and the expatriate writers of 1920s Paris.
Her debut novel, The Ashtrays Are Full and the Glasses Are Empty features many of these characters, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, Gertrude Stein, and Dorothy Parker.
You can connect with Kirsten Mickelwait on their website, on Facebook, and Instagram.
Source: Publisher, Julie Coryell PR
Publisher: Köehler Books
ISBN: 9798888246917
Pub Date: May 27, 2025
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