A novelbyMark Haber

May10,2022 5 x 7.75 160 pages 978-1-56689-636-8

What I wanted more than anything was to be standing beside Schmidt, in concert with Schmidt, at the foot of Saint Sebastians Abyss along with Schmidt, hands cupped to the sides of our faces, debating art, transcendence, and the glory of the apocalypse.

Former best friends who built their careers writing about a single work of art meet after a decades-long falling-out. One of them, called to the others deathbed for unknown reasons by a relatively short nine-page email, spends his flight to Berlin reflecting on Dutch Renaissance painter Count Hugo Beckenbauer and his masterpiece, Saint Sebastians Abyss, the work that established both men as important art critics and also destroyed their relationship. A darkly comic meditation on art, obsession, and the enigmatic power of friendship, Saint Sebastians Abyss stalks the museum halls of Europe, feverishly seeking salvation, annihilation, and the meaning of belief.

About the Author

Mark Haber was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Florida. His debut novel, Reinhardts Garden (2019, Coffee House Press), was longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award. His second novel, Saint Sebastians Abyss (2022, Coffee House Press), was named a best book of 2022 by the New York Public Library and Literary Hub. Mark's fiction has appeared in Guernica, Southwest Review, and Air/Light, among others. Mark lives in Minneapolis.

Praise for Saint Sebastian's Abyss