A tender affair and the redemptive power of art are at the core of this compelling novel from
National Book Award finalist Allegra Goodman a romantic realist who dazzles with wit [and]
compassion (The Wall Street Journal). Collin James is young creative and unhappy. A college
dropout he waits tables and spends his free time beautifying the streets of Cambridge
Massachusetts with his medium of choice: chalk. Collin s art captivates passersby with its
vibrant colors and intricate lines until the moment he wipes it all away. Nothing in Collin s
life is meant to last. Then he meets Nina. . . . The daughter of a tech mogul who is
revolutionizing virtual reality Nina Lazare is trying to give back as a high school teacher
but her students won t listen to her. When Collin enters her world he inspires her to think
bigger. Nina wants to return the favor even if it means losing him. Against this poignant
backdrop Allegra Goodman paints a tableau of students neighbors and colleagues: Diana a
teenage girl trying to make herself invisible her twin brother Aidan who s addicted to the
games produced by Nina s father and Daphne a viral-marketing trickster who unites them all
for better or worse. Wise warm and enchanting The Chalk Artist is both a finely rendered
portrait of modern love and a celebration of all the realms we inhabit: real and imagined
visual and virtual seemingly independent yet hopelessly tangled. Praise for The Chalk Artist
The virtual world Goodman conjures is as feverishly vivid as it is mysterious and alluring. Not
since I pushed my way through C. S. Lewis s fusty mothballed wardrobe and stepped out into the
frozen pine-scented forests of Narnia can I remember being so effectively transported into a
viscerally sometimes terrifyingly plausible alternate universe. . . . This is a novel full of
wit and spark. . . . Irresistible and arresting. The New York Times Book Review Enjoyably sharp
dialogue and convincing portraits of multiple mindsets and terrains . . . One can t help but
marvel at how Goodman has captured the atmosphere of this virtual fantasy land so effectively
in words. NPR Mesmerizing depictions of virtual-reality landscapes of Neverwhen and Underworld
make the games dangerous power over one of Nina s students very real. People Goodman s latest
combines fantastical flourishes (an imagined video game called Underworld ) and realistic
Cambridge details . . . in a narrative about art and ambition. The Boston Globe Allegra Goodman
creates suspense where you might least expect to find it. The Atlantic
