The World of Tomorrow: Brendan Mathews with Mary Beth Keane

In an exhilarating debut novel set during the 1939–40 World’s Fair, three brothers are caught up in a whirlwind week of love, blackmail, and betrayal culminating in an assassination plot.

June 1939. Francis Dempsey and his shell-shocked brother Michael are on an ocean liner from Ireland bound for their brother Martin's home in New York City, having stolen a small fortune from the IRA. During the week that follows, the lives of these three brothers collide spectacularly with big-band jazz musicians, a talented but fragile heiress, a Jewish street photographer facing a return to Nazi-occupied Prague, a retired assassin, a vengeful mob boss, and the ghosts of their own family's revolutionary past.

From the jazz clubs of Harlem to the Plaza Hotel, from the garrets in the Bowery to the shadowy warehouses of Hell’s Kitchen, Brendan Mathews brings new life to a New York of bygone days. He will discuss how he reconstructed that lost past and how the novel’s intricate storytelling reveals an America which blithely hoped it could avoid another catastrophic war and focus instead on the promise of the World’s Fair: a peaceful, prosperous “World of Tomorrow.”

Mathews will be joined by the novelist Mary Beth Keane, who was selected in 2011 by the National Book Foundation as one of its 5 Under 35 and whose second novel, Fever, is being developed by Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss into a miniseries for BBC America.

FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED
For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released 15 minutes before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A stand by line will form one hour before the program.

The New York Public Library proudly houses the archives of the New York World's Fair of 1939 and 1940. The Fair, which was held in Flushing Meadows, commemorated the 150th anniversary of Washington's inauguration in New York City and took “Building the World of Tomorrow” as its central theme. Almost 60 nations participated, with over a thousand exhibitors. Much of the archive can be viewed in our digital collections. The collection comprises a comprehensive view of the Fair’s construction, maintenance, and demolition; its planning and development; its displays, exhibits, amusements, entertainment, and concessions. It includes beautiful architectural plans, design drawings, sound recordings, and over 12,000 photographs.