Excellent…. At its heart, this is a story about family bonds and a pivotal time in New York.” — Rolling Stone
“Arresting…. Barbash has vividly captured the end times feeling of this period in America and has populated his sad and funny tale with a highly engaging mix of real people and fictional characters…. Barbash has sprinkled ‘The Dakota Winters’ with Beatle dust. Lennon is alive in its pages.” — New York Times Book Review
“Set in Manhattan in the late 1970s, this charming coming-of-age tale is sure to be catnip for pop-culture mavens.... Gossipy, nostalgic gold.” — People
“A keen and understated examination of how the vagaries of celebrity life impinge on a father-son relationship.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“In this family saga set in 1980 in New York City’s Dakota building, a young man tries to help his father revive his TV career while mingling with famous folks like John Lennon.” — USA Today
“Punctuated by clever dialogue and crisp social critiques, Barbash’s incisive, funny, and poignant portrait of talented people and a city in flux illuminates the risks of celebrity and the struggle to become one’s true self.” — Booklist (starred review)
“A beautiful, evocative novel of family devotion, celebrity, downfall, and survival, framed by the political and cultural upheavals of America on the cusp of a new decade. Irresistibly tender.” — Library Journal
“Suffused with warm memories of punk clubs, the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. Olympic hockey team, young romance, and the A-list residents at the storied Dakota apartments.... Pleasurably endearing for anybody with a soft spot for pop culture, Annie Hall-era Manhattan, and 20-somethingdom at its most freewheeling. — Kirkus Reviews
“Seamlessly mingling historical figures with invented ones, Tom Barbash conjures a gritty, populous, affectionate portrait of 1979 New York City: the site of his subtly captivating paean to filial love.” — Jennifer Egan, author of Manhattan Beach
“The Dakota Winters is deft, funny, touching, and sharply observed, a marvel of tone, and a skillful evocation of a dark passage in the history of New York City, when all the fearful ironies of the world we live in now first came stalking into view.” — Michael Chabon, author of Moonglow
“A crazily charming noveland a reminder that charm can be a profound literary value. I wanted to begin a new life… with these characters. I wanted to trade worlds with them...A wise and seductive story that feels truer than true, as only the very finest fiction does.” — Walter Kirn, author of Up in the Air
“Thoughtful and entertaining...A thought-provoking time capsule... If you were a fan of TV’s Mad Men—specific to a time and place but universal in its exploration of the themes of identity and human vulnerability—you might very well love this novel as much as I did.” — Wally Lamb, author of I Know This Much Is True