True Biz (2022), the New York Times bestselling novel from alumna Sara Nović ’14, is out now in paperback from Random House.
“Rather than a birthday, a better metaphor for book publication is more like dropping your kid off at college,” Nović wrote in response to the book’s paperback publication. “You buy them sheets and laundry detergent, shampoo and Easy Mac. You’ve given them everything you could, for years. And now they’ve got to head out there without you. You hope you’ve done enough. You wave goodbye and cry in the car on the way home. So, bon voyage, True Biz. Don’t forget to call home. Don’t drink too much, but if you do, take an Uber back!”
Nović’s novel takes readers into a residential school for the deaf, where she introduces them to an unforgettable cast of characters, each dealing with their own complicated and personal crisis. The novel takes its title from an exclamation in American Sign Language—“true biz,” which means, emphatically, “real talk.”
True Biz received significant recognition upon its initial release, when it was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and it went on to be named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The Washington Post, and other outlets. Reese Witherspoon, who chose the novel for her monthly book club, praised the work, saying, “Goodness, I can’t even begin to put into words all the feelings this book provoked! An eye-opening and heartfelt story about human connection and the beauty and adversity woven into the deaf community and culture. It is both an educational and electrifying peek into a family’s life as they fight to forge connections even as the outside world threatens to close the door on them. I loved this story so much, it is not one to miss.”
True Biz is available to purchase here.
Sara Nović holds an MFA from Columbia University, where she studied fiction and literary translation. Her first novel, Girl at War, won the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She is an instructor of Deaf studies and creative writing, and lives in Philadelphia with her family.
