Why We Came to the City

Brooklyn Eagles Literary Prize, Longlist

Junior Library Guild Selection

“A beautiful, sprawling and generous book […] a heartfelt novel, tender and painful and cathartic all at once.” —Michael Schaub, NPR Books

“Astonishing […] Why We Came to the City is amazing.” —Kit Reed, The Miami Herald

”Why We Came to the City is a tremendous accomplishment: an elegant and deeply moving meditation on friendship and mortality, both fearless and finely wrought. I believe this book will stay with me for a very long time.“—Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven

“Compelling… searing… Tightly-written, smartly conceived.“—Publisher’s Weekly

“…a love letter to Manhattan.” – Helen Ellis, The New York Times

“Enticing… Much like a modern Great Gatsby, this book is awash in the feeling of the city.” —Melissa Ragsdale, Bustle

“Fans of Bret Easton Ellis’s stream-of-consciousness narratives will enjoy Jansma’s paean to New York City.”—In Style

“Joyful and tragic, Jansma’s book will appeal to readers who loved Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life.”—Men’s Journal

Click for more on the French translation by Sophie Troff, New York Odyssée