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Book Nook: The Chateau, by Paul Goldberg

Paul Goldberg returned to the program to discuss his latest darkly humorous novel "The Chateau." His protagonist is a journalist named Bill who is about to lose his long-time gig as a science reporter for the Washington Post. Right at about that same moment he hears that his former college roommate, a plastic surgeon in Florida, has just made a fatal plunge from atop a tall building.

After Bill loses his job he is encouraged by a former colleague to head down to Florida to research and write a book about his friend's mysterious death. Bill has nothing better to do and very little money now that his job is over so he heads south with plans to stay with his father at a condominium known as "The Chateau." Bill and his father have been estranged for a long time and he's only going to go there because he cannot afford to stay anywhere else.

Bill's dad Melsor is Russian. He's a poet and when he lived in the Soviet Union he was a famous dissident. Now he's living in retirement after narrowly escaping from serving a prison sentence in New York for a scam he was running that bilked the government. Melsor is living off his ill gotten gains and Bill is about to step into a hilarious freak show at "The Chateau."

The author has set this story during the days right before the inauguration of President Donald Trump. After you read this wickedly funny tale you will surely understand why he chose that particular chronology.

The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library,  Clark County Public LibraryDayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.