Start your spring season early on February 26th by coming out to hear Nicole Treska, author of her debut memoir Wonderland set in Boston and reminding us of so many places we know and love.
Nicole Treska was born to a family of gangsters. In the 1970s, during Boston’s mob wars, her grandfather’s diner was an unofficial headquarters for Whitey Bulger and other members of the Winter Hill Gang. Nicole’s father was also an associate of the gang: there was talk that, before Nicole could walk, her stroller was used as a decoy to sell drugs. In 1985, her father was arrested and tried—sentenced to two years in prison for federal drug trafficking.
Wanting to offer a better life to her children, Nicole’s mother moved her and her sister out of Boston. As an adult, Nicole strove to separate herself from her past, establishing a career as a writer and professor in New York City. But when she learns her father’s sister has passed away, she returns to her hometown and reunites with her dad—now stooped and struggling to walk on a bad knee. As she gets reacquainted with him and the old neighborhood, Nicole is forced to reconcile with her harrowing childhood and its lingering impact.
Reviews
“Treska ponders the lifelong imprints of class and community in this touching memoir.” –The New York Times Book Review
“This winning debut memoir… amounts to an arresting and compassionate self-portrait.” —Publisher's Weekly
“A poignantly affecting memoir about surviving and thriving.” —Kirkus
“A powerful, poetic memoir that brilliantly blends a history of Boston and its surrounding areas with the history of a fascinating—and at times functional—family. A swaggering storyteller of the highest degree, Nicole Treska will have your heart breaking on one page, and your eyes filling with tears of laughter on the next. Filled with hardscrabble characters and hard-earned lessons, here is a magnificent tale that is as New England as it gets.” —Isaac Fitzgerald, New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts
A “compelling portrait” (Safiya Sinclair, National Book Critics Circle Award–winning author of How to Say Babylon) “written with urgency, vulnerability, and compassion” (Ashley C. Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter), “Wonderland masterfully explores and elucidates the line between helping family and hurting ourselves.”
Nicole Treska’s short fiction has appeared in New YorkTyrant magazine,Epiphany literary journal, and Egress: New Openings in Literary Art. Her interviews and reviews are up at Electric Literature, Guernica, The Millions, BOMB, The Rumpus, and then some. She lives in Harlem with her husband, James, and their three-legged dog, Nadine.
Author Talk Specifics
When: 2/26/25 at 6:30pm, refreshments + book signings at 7:30pm
Where: Union Church Connection Room
485 Columbus Ave
Books for sale by Parkside Books
Free to All. Come in person or attend virtually via Zoom
TO CONNECT VIA ZOOM:
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