Simon McHugh would rather be left alone. A quiet assistant librarian, he has accidentally become a Jeopardy champion, a hero, and the unwilling subject of the most talked-about nude photographs in the world. When fame closes in, he turns to his Aunt Susan Benda, the legendary movie star who helped raise him. She’s the aunt who once kicked him off the couch to make him try out for Jeopardy, and he’s the nephew who still tucks the blanket back around her when she falls asleep.
Simon has never felt less equipped. Susan is dying, and her last wish draws in a marimba maker, a fussy majordomo, and a family willing to risk everything.
A comic, tender novel about fame, family, fate, and the grace that arrives when we least expect it.
“Susan Benda is a rare novel: intellectually fearless, emotionally generous, and startlingly alive on every page. Paul Crehan has written a book that is at once hilarious and profound, a Hollywood novel that refuses glamour in favor of wisdom, and a philosophical novel that never forgets the pleasures of story. Susan herself is an unforgettable creation—one of those characters who feels instantly mythic and utterly real, like someone you swear must have existed before you met her on the page. This is a novel about fame, yes—but more urgently, it is about grace, courage, and the terrifying responsibility of becoming who the world seems to need you to be. Beautifully written, deeply humane, and quietly devastating.”
—Ivy Pochoda, author of Ecstasy and Sing Her Down
PAUL CREHAN is a former development executive in the documentary end of television. He is especially proud of his work on issues like mining disasters, the wrongfully incarcerated, prosperity preachers, and police shootings.
In the course of his work, he’s helped the FBI find and arrest an arms trafficker; gotten a former SS officer to admit on camera the fact and extent of the Final Solution; and gotten a serial killer to take viewers into his twisted mind. All along, he’s written, and here and there, has won small honors that are huge for him.
Susan Benda is the result of a lot of musing, thinking, and access to, and familiarity with, the world of entertainers and entertainment. He loves all dogs, several people, ice cream over frozen yogurt, L.A. and Chicago, and pretty much nowhere else.
FORTHCOMING FEBRUARY 9, 2027. Available in print and ebook, 286 pages. Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-962931-61-8 ($30.); softcover ISBN: 978-1-962931-71-7; ($19.95) EISBN: 978-1-962931-62-5; LCCN: 2026902138.
Simon McHugh would rather be left alone. A quiet assistant librarian, he has accidentally become a Jeopardy champion, a hero, and the unwilling subject of the most talked-about nude photographs in the world. When fame closes in, he turns to his Aunt Susan Benda, the legendary movie star who helped raise him. She’s the aunt who once kicked him off the couch to make him try out for Jeopardy, and he’s the nephew who still tucks the blanket back around her when she falls asleep.
Simon has never felt less equipped. Susan is dying, and her last wish draws in a marimba maker, a fussy majordomo, and a family willing to risk everything.
A comic, tender novel about fame, family, fate, and the grace that arrives when we least expect it.
“Susan Benda is a rare novel: intellectually fearless, emotionally generous, and startlingly alive on every page. Paul Crehan has written a book that is at once hilarious and profound, a Hollywood novel that refuses glamour in favor of wisdom, and a philosophical novel that never forgets the pleasures of story. Susan herself is an unforgettable creation—one of those characters who feels instantly mythic and utterly real, like someone you swear must have existed before you met her on the page. This is a novel about fame, yes—but more urgently, it is about grace, courage, and the terrifying responsibility of becoming who the world seems to need you to be. Beautifully written, deeply humane, and quietly devastating.”
—Ivy Pochoda, author of Ecstasy and Sing Her Down
PAUL CREHAN is a former development executive in the documentary end of television. He is especially proud of his work on issues like mining disasters, the wrongfully incarcerated, prosperity preachers, and police shootings.
In the course of his work, he’s helped the FBI find and arrest an arms trafficker; gotten a former SS officer to admit on camera the fact and extent of the Final Solution; and gotten a serial killer to take viewers into his twisted mind. All along, he’s written, and here and there, has won small honors that are huge for him.
Susan Benda is the result of a lot of musing, thinking, and access to, and familiarity with, the world of entertainers and entertainment. He loves all dogs, several people, ice cream over frozen yogurt, L.A. and Chicago, and pretty much nowhere else.
FORTHCOMING FEBRUARY 9, 2027. Available in print and ebook, 286 pages. Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-962931-61-8 ($30.); softcover ISBN: 978-1-962931-71-7; ($19.95) EISBN: 978-1-962931-62-5; LCCN: 2026902138.
