Glass

Menashe Everett is a tormented man. He's ruled by depression and addiction. He's haunted by his past. At 37, he barely holds onto his job and lives in a haze of blurred reality.But to many in his life, he's their only hope.For the past ten years, Menashe has been acting as a counselor to similarly afflicted clients who agree to his unorthodox brand of pseudo-therapy. After a grim but revelatory trip to Las Vegas in his late twenties, Menashe decided to open up a "glass museum"-an underground safe place where clients can vent their anguish by destroying rooms filled with clear glass art. The museum brings hope to those who have not responded to traditional therapy, but also gives Menashe a sense of purpose he desperately needs.Menashe's work is always challenging, but now he's taken on a particularly taxing caseload. Among others, he counsels Austin Gendron, a gruff Vietnam veteran prone to psychotic breaks; Murray Henderson, a timid college student trying to understand his episodes of anger and anxiety; and John Cook, Menashe's best friend. As he works tirelessly for his clients, Menashe must also handle his increasingly complex personal life, which constantly forces him to relive his past and question his abilities as a therapist.Set in Cleveland in the late 1980s, Glass tests traditional ideas of interpersonal responsibility and what it means to struggle with mental illness. Kate Kort was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1985. She studied English and world literature at Truman State University. She currently lives in a suburb of Portland, Oregon, with her husband and four children. Some of her favorite authors include Salman Rushdie, G.K. Chesterton, Carl Hiaasen, Mikhail Bulgakov, Andrei Bely, and Arundhati Roy.She is the author of three novels: Glass and its sequel, Tempered, as well as Laika. Menashe has been acting as a counselor to similarly afflicted clients who agree to his unorthodox brand of pseudo-therapy. He decides to open up a "glass museum"-an underground safe place where clients can vent their anguish by destroying rooms filled with clear glass art. The museum brings hope to those who have not responded to traditional therapy, but also gives Menashe a sense of purpose he desperately needs.Set in Cleveland in the late 1980s, Glass tests traditional ideas of interpersonal responsibility and what it means to struggle with mental illness.A decade later, Menashe's client Murray Henderson is yearning for direction. He's treading water in Cleveland, failing in his career and relationships. When an opportunity calls him to NYC, Murray finally sees a path out of his relentless grief. But as he navigates a hopeful new life, he soon falls back into old patterns of self-loathing and violence. With his life shattering around him, Murray realizes he must confront his most devastating secret and the intertwined fear and anger haunting him.Tempered, the sequel to Glass, explores the deadly pull of anger and how we are shaped by-and shape-the ones we love.