Author Jennifer Egan. Photo by Pieter M. Van Hattem
Author Jennifer Egan. Photo by Pieter M. Van Hattem

Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach finally on shelves



Jennifer Egan is standing in the New York home where she has watched her family grow up. A Victorian house in a once-neglected Brooklyn neighbourhood, it is now in a desirable location "full of coffee shops and hipsters… obviously". She has lived there for 22 years, written her award-winning global breakthrough A Visit from the Goon Squad within its four walls, and in imperceptible ways, found its history seeping into the eagerly awaited follow-up, Manhattan Beach

"I got pretty obsessed with New York's architecture – and realised that to a large degree it's a 19th-century city," says the 55 year-old American writer. "A city with such a deep mine of ideas, artefacts and treasures. A city with a chaotic, everyday mix of voices and people. So I ended up looking for these scratch marks of New York's history amid its present."

The result – set in New York during the Great Depression and the Second World War – is, for an Egan work, a surprisingly traditional, historical novel. Surprising, because the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad was so daring with form – one chapter consisted entirely of PowerPoint slides written by a teenage girl in the near future. In Manhattan Beach, the determined Anna Kerrigan is the first female ship-repair diver in Brooklyn's Naval Yard, caught up in a familiar world of mobsters and family secrets. And for all of Goon Squad's technical brilliance, there is something satisfying in how straightforward her new book is. It is a novel to immerse yourself in. 

"I hope that is true, because this book is not going to satisfy people who are looking for radical structural ideas," Egan admits. "And I should say that was initially a disappointment for me as well – I thought the things I first tried with this book would work, and they really didn't.

"So I had to recognise that some of the hopes I had for it wouldn't be realised, too. But I agree with you, the big pay-off that comes with a more traditionally written novel is immersion into a story that does not remind you on a regular basis that you're reading a book.

"I hope you can relax into Manhattan Beach and just be there, in that 20th-century world. Reading, for me at least, is first and foremost fun, entertaining and enriching – so if people don't feel that way about my book I can't blame them: I've failed them."

Not that Egan found the writing of Manhattan Beach easy. Far from it. She says that years of writing more-fractured narratives meant that the technical challenge of writing a more-linear book where momentum has to be built and sustained did cause her some problems. But she had a guide, and it came in the form of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall novels. 

"I'm not putting myself in her category, believe me, but I found it fascinating how she managed to pick on a very dusty, bookish history and make it so alive without ever playing to movie cameras," she says. "And you realise it's because we never get the long shots of medieval London, full of beggars and cripples. People are indoors. It's dark. What that taught me is that the minute you start writing history with a capital H, we all go to sleep, like we did in class."

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Read more:

Book review: Manhattan Beach tells genuine tale of a father and daughter

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But ask Egan why she chose this particular point in New York's history and she struggles to come up with a reason – not least because she rarely starts her books with a defined idea of their structure. It was the same with Goon Squad, where the 13 connected stories organically grew out of pure curiosity about people and locations she had vaguely begun to think about. If Egan has to be pushed about a starting point for Manhattan Beach, though, it's not an event in the 20th century, but the most seismic moment of the 21st – 9/11.

"I was living in New York at that time, and it felt almost immediately that I was witnessing an important step in the trajectory of American global power. That made me think about the origin of that global power, which inevitably led me to the Second World War. So I started wondering about what it felt like to be in New York at that time, too.

"Meanwhile, I was writing other books, but as I got more curious about wartime New York, I was led to the waterfront, because it was the defining feature at that time. It was crucial as a port, and the waterfront led to organised crime. Through the Brooklyn Naval Yard, I got interested in civilian deep-sea diving, which I didn't know could be a part of ship repair. So in this way the process it was very much like Goon Squad – I followed my curiosity into all this different directions."

Egan admits that it was "inevitable" that some early reviews have criticised her for keeping too much of this exhaustive research in the book, and it is true that extended sections on shipwrighting do raise an eyebrow. But they can be overlooked because of the sheer film-noir quality to Manhattan Beach. Somehow, with its likeable female hero battling against the social mores of the time, it manages to feel a very Victorian novel, and yet also in thrall to films such as The Godfather or television series such as The Sopranos. That, for Egan, was always the intention. 

"Cinema or television aren't traps – they're there for me to exploit," she argues. "I love working with genre. And to me, the Victorian novel is the flourishing ancestor I'm always trying to access when I write. It's just as true with Goon Squad as with this book – the Victorian novel is so agile, flexible, ravishing in its possibilities. Daring, even. It was television, YouTube videos, movies… everything."

Meanwhile, Egan keeps wider themes of parenthood, loss and female power bubbling away in the background. She has always shied away from writing thinly veiled autobiography and says her female characters tend to be "gutsier, oppositional, more secretive and less obedient". Anna is certainly that. So the realisation that the family dynamics in Manhattan Beach had begun to mirror Egan's own situation – it's very much a book about the pain and difficulty of letting go of children – discomfited her

"That sneaked up on me," she laughs. "I'd often thought, I've got kids but please don't let me start writing about parenthood. However, I actually did do that here. Hopefully Manhattan Beach is about many things large and small, as any book should be, but my children are almost 17 and 15, and I found that as I was working on the book, I was struggling with the pain of having my older son not wanting to always be with the family so much, wanting to be with his friends, to break away. I experienced an anguish about that which took me by surprise, and then I realised I was already writing a book about a father who is so incapable of handling that situation, he actually leaves his family over it.

"So yes. I have to admit that it is to some degree a book about parenthood, even though I don't like the sound of it."

What she definitely does like is that Manhattan Beach has already been longlisted for the US's National Book Awards – just as Goon Squad was in 2011. You get the feeling she is ready to wow her now-global audience all over again. 

"Well, it's our job as fiction writers to provide a delight that nothing else can – to such a degree that people have no choice but to read our work," she says. "Now that's a very tall order, if not impossible. But why not try?"

Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
  • Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
  • Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
  • Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
 
 
Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
The biog

Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren

Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies

Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan

Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India 

 

Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy

Cryopreservation: A timeline
  1. Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
  2. Ovarian tissue surgically removed
  3. Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
  4. Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
  5. Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Abu Dhabi traffic facts

Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road

The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.

Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.

The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.

The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.

Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019

 

THE BIO

Mr Al Qassimi is 37 and lives in Dubai
He is a keen drummer and loves gardening
His favourite way to unwind is spending time with his two children and cooking

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMaly%20Tech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mo%20Ibrahim%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%20International%20Financial%20Centre%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241.6%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2015%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%2C%20planning%20first%20seed%20round%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GCC-based%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
WITHIN%20SAND
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In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
  • Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
  • Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
  • HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
  • Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
  • Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
  • Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
  • Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
  • Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
  • Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
  • Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas

Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa

Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong

Rating: 3/5

Company%20profile
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Ain Dubai in numbers

126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure

1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch

16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.

9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.

5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place

192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.

2019 ASIAN CUP FINAL

Japan v Qatar
Friday, 6pm
Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi

RESULT

Manchester City 5 Swansea City 0
Man City:
D Silva (12'), Sterling (16'), De Bruyne (54' ), B Silva (64' minutes), Jesus (88')

Meydan Racecourse racecard:

6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes Listed (PA) | Dh175,000 1,900m

7.05pm: Maiden for 2-year-old fillies (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m

7.40pm: The Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) Dh265,000 1,600m

8.15pm: Maiden for 2-year-old colts (TB) Dh165,000 1,600m

8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh265,000 2,000m

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,200m

10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,600m.

How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

Squid Game season two

Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk 

Stars:  Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun

Rating: 4.5/5

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

The biog

First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974  
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work

Company profile

Date started: January, 2014

Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe

Based: Dubai

Sector: Education technology

Size: Five employees

Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.

Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)

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