Erik Tarloff - The Woman in Black

Narratively inventive and always engaging, The Woman in Black spans America in the 1950s in its exploration of film, fame, and how well we ever really know each other.

Chance Hardwick, the fictitious star of the breakout film Plains and Hills, is widely considered the greatest, most charismatic young movie actor of the postwar generation.

However, his meteoric rise to fame and his tragic demise have remained an inexplicable puzzle to all who knew him, as well as to his millions of fans around the world.

But who is Chance Hardwick really? And moreover, who is the mysterious woman watching over his grave each year on the anniversary of his death?

Erik Tarloff has written for the stage, the screen (both large and small), and publications like Slate, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Prospect, Vogue, and many others. He contributed to speeches by Bill Clinton and Al Gore. He currently lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, economist Laura Tyson. This is his fourth novel.

Andy Ross is a literary agent in Oakland and former owner of Cody’s Books in Berkeley.