Preorder Now! On sale: August 11, 2020
Set in Pre-Katrina New Orleans, LAST CALL ON DECATUR STREET is an electrifying tale of friendship and betrayal, an exploration of racism and white privilege, and one woman’s journey to find herself in the seedy, glamorous world of burlesque.
Despite vowing to never return to New Orleans when she left for college, Rosemary quickly finds herself back in her hometown—kicked out of school, at odds with her best friend, and desperate to lose herself in a bright, kaleidoscopic nightlife of dive bars and burlesque dancing.
This night, though, is different. An unlikely companion, a secret sorrow, and an unexpected visitor force Rosemary to break free. From the burlesque stage in the French Quarter, strip clubs to strangers’ beds, a secret garden in Jackson Square, and ending at a raucous masquerade party, this night becomes a journey for Rosemary to come to grips with her past, grieve for those she has lost, and maybe, finally, acknowledge that she too deserves redemption.
With superlative emotional and intellectual sensitivity, mordant wit, and pitch-perfect style, Cohen captures the uncertainty and messy edges of early adulthood. A love letter to New Orleans, Last Call on Decatur Street is a story of family and home and the complicated things we inherit from the people and places we love.
“The lush language, fully realized characters, and tight storytelling make this a winner. ”
“A boozy, beautiful fever dream of a book that deftly articulates questions of accountability, privilege, and grief. Watching this narrator stumble through one messy magical night was a wise reminder of how impossible it is to outrun yourself.”
“Last Call on Decatur Street is an atmospheric novel that brings readers right into its world—probing, celebrating, and sometimes puncturing the mythologies that surround the French Quarter of New Orleans. In a novel about relationships, family, and place, told from the perspective of its real and messy protagonist, Iris Martin Cohen grapples thoughtfully with the rifts between people—both the ones that might be mended, and the ones that might not.”
“Sexy, smart and completely engrossing, Last Call on Decatur Street is the epic story of one woman’s all-night journey into adulthood. This is on one level a never-ending drunken party, on another a mediation on class, race, and friendship, but, above all, Cohen has written a beautiful and complex love letter to New Orleans.”
“Last Call on Decatur Street is a gorgeous book about how we are shaped by the people we know—over the course of a childhood, a lifetime, and even a single night. It shines a loving light on New Orleans’ thorny beauty, and gives us a glamorous and gritty close-up of those extravagant and emotional adventures that can only happen when the sun goes down.”