Learning to Drive

A member of New York City's glitterati careens down memory lane in this debut novel by the gossip columnist and Vogue editor-at-large.

In 1980s New York City, Julian Orr has made himself into the ultimate insider—a journalist at a glossy fashion and gossip magazine and resident expert on contemporary urban living. But now, at the advanced age of thirty-seven, he's about to embark on a totally new venture: learning to drive. His ultimate goal is to drive himself out of the city to visit his parents' graves and the small Connecticut town where he grew up.

But confronting his difficult childhood will be a breeze compared to the trials he faces at the hand of his not-quite-hinged driving instructor. What begins as an innocent act of personal liberation escalates soon escalates into a fiasco of front page proportions in this funny, poignant and personal debut novel.

The e-book edition published in 2019 includes a new preface by the author.

© 2019 Atlantic Monthly Press (Ebook): 9780802148001

Release date

Ebook: 11 June 2019