If you love New York City, chances are you’ll adore Elling­ton Boule­vard, a nov­el by the author of the crit­i­cal­ly acclaimed Cross­ing Cal­i­for­nia and its sequel, The Wash­ing­ton Sto­ry. The Elling­ton referred to in the title is none oth­er than the Duke him­self, along with the street named after him, plus the fact that Langer gave his new book the sub­ti­tle, ​“A Nov­el in A‑flat” which tells you even before you crack open the cov­er that there will be plen­ty of music not only in the sto­ry but in the lan­guage in which it is so deft­ly written. Like many New York sto­ries, both fac­tu­al and fic­tion­al, this one revolves around real estate, with char­ac­ters that ulti­mate­ly remind us of our best — and worst — selves. There’s the musi­cian who is about to be evict­ed from his Upper West Side roost, for exam­ple. The land­lord, a new­ly mar­ried recent­ly recov­ered alco­holic who has just dis­cov­ered he has a Jew­ish soul. A poten­tial buy­er for the apart­ment, a mag­a­zine edi­tor, who falls in love with the musician. Cross­ing paths and dou­ble-cross­ing each oth­er, and the rest of the live­ly cast, makes for a fun­ny and poignant ode to a city in the throes of a real estate boom whose pro­por­tions, pit­falls, and pow­er to mag­ni­fy love have nev­er been seen quite like this before.

ISBN: 9780385522052