The Bourgeois Anarchist

An aging activist—a professed anarchist since her college days—is drawn into a violent affair that pits her lifelong political principles against her moral intuition. Susie Alioto is a longtime political militant. After college she spent two decades in an anarchist commune, and at age 66 her beliefs haven't wavered. She protests with young people to demand justice and human rights. She marches for gun control, for Black Lives Matter, for action against climate change. A portrait of her special anarchist hero, Errico Malatesta, hangs on her refrigerator with an inspirational quote of his: "Impossibility never prevented anything from happening." Yet Susie now teaches at an expensive private school, and her life is comfortably middle-class. Her son Eric, a budding mathematician, mocks her as a "bourgeois anarchist." As the story opens, violence breaks out at a peaceful rally, and Susie is injured. A young woman dressed in Antifa gear rescues her, and Susie is drawn into a mysterious intrigue involving angry activists and devious capitalists, gentrification, arson, even mobsters. Cops pound on her door to demand information. Though Susie tries to hew to her principles, the true nature of justice becomes muddled, and her anarchist heroes—including the grizzled Malatesta on her refrigerator—provide no clear answer. People's lives are at risk, and she doesn't know what to do. The dilemma escalates into an existential crisis. In the midst of this turmoil, Susie stumbles into unexpected romance. But is the new man any more reliable than the ones who've failed her in the past? Meanwhile her son, the apolitical math geek, adds an offbeat and comic perspective that may offer a clue to the personal and political intrigues. PRAISE FOR THE BOURGEOIS ANARCHIST "Susie is an irresistible force. Readers, especially those of a certain age, aficionados of Anne Tyler's quirky heroines, will enjoy Susie. She carries the baggage of years of living and experience with almost reckless, youthful abandon. And begins to reckon with some skeletons in her own closet and to figure out what's next." —Ellen Prentiss Campbell, in Tiferet "The Bourgeois Anarchist is an engrossing tale of an aging pacifist's struggle to live her ideals as she's enveloped by the dangers of anarchic activism and the violence of big city capitalism." —Alan Drew, author of The Recruit and Shadow Man "It's antifa vs artisanal coffee in this absorbing and timely Philadelphia story about the difficulties of living out one's radical principles in the most orderly way possible." —Elisabeth Cohen, author of The Glitch "If you've ever wondered what you would do in a time of crisis ... you're doing it right now. Susie Alioto is doing her thing too ... marching, banner-waving and trying to reconcile her anarchic principles with her non-violent beliefs, in an America where non-violence seems to be increasingly impossible. As tensions rise in her rapidly gentrifying district of Philadelphia, a motley crew of cops, mobsters, pacifists and pseudo-anarchists invade Susie's quiet existence. No wonder she's feeling dizzy. A thoroughly enjoyable, and surprisingly gentle, story of love, duty and politics." —Orla McAlinden, author of The Accidental Wife and The Flight of the Wren "When it comes to political convictions, our younger selves are bound to judge our older selves, and harshly. The charm of this novella is the way it presents this subject with such a light touch, such generosity, and such affection for its characters." —Simone Zelitch, author of Judenstaat, Waveland, and Louisa