Cornelius Sky - Softcover

"A deftly written and inherently fascinating read from first page to last, Cornelius Sky showcases author Timothy Brandoff's uniquely entertaining narrative storytelling style that offers a unique and original story set against the backdrop of an American metropolis teetering on the brink of ruin and in the hope of an economic, cultural, social, and political recovery."
--Midwest Book Review

"Cornelius Sky is a superb character study, with vivid observations of Connie's tumultuous life and the tumultuous city where he lives...Timothy Brandoff is an astute observer of the human condition."
--The Cyberlibrarian

"Fresh, cliché-less fiction writing paints an absorbing, alternately humorous and tragic portrait of a doorman at a fancy New York apartment building who is in the grip of alcoholism and unresolved trauma from his housing project childhood. The author, now a New York bus driver, draws on his own experiences and those of his family members to create a character we root for even as he lets down everyone around him."
--World Wide Work

"Brandoff's Cornelius Sky displays a full gamut of emotion, from seething anger and despair to raucous good humor. Set in a bygone Manhattan, it is a serious comic novel about human failings and forgiveness. This remarkable study of a doorman will stay with you, and live on."
--Allison Janney, Oscar Award-winning actress

"Timothy Brandoff's Cornelius Sky is a novel that seems to be everywhere, and is superbly told. The storyteller has the sharp eye and calm voice of an intrigued looker-on."
--Larry Heinemann, National Book Award-winning author of Paco's Story

"Who knew how we'd ached for this story of a flesh-and-blood human being? A doorman tortured by generational trauma, tragicomically self-sabotaging, bleakly comic, alternately callous and tender, and electrically, poetically alert to the sights, sounds, smells and existential nuance of Kennedy-era New York. Plus--glory be to God--a huge drunk. Who knew Timothy Brandoff, this bard of Manhattan, would emerge from the Chelsea projects, go on to operate a NYC Transit bus, and end up giving us a novel that is at once a kick in the gut and a strangled cry of exultation? Cornelius Sky sings."
--Heather King, author of Famished: A Food Memoir with Recipes

Timothy Brandoff received a BA from Goddard College and an MFA from New York University. His fellowships include the Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab, the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project, the Vermont Studio Center, and Yaddo. Cornelius Sky was a runner-up for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship. Brandoff operates a bus for the New York City Transit Authority.