Fourteen Days: A Collaborative Novel

New York City is locked down during the pandemic. In one run-down apartment building, an eclectic collection of pandemic refugees are toughing it out. The building’s new super finds a way to access the large rooftop and decides to make it her own. One by one, other tenants join her, keeping their distance as they begin to tell stories, both true and false, about themselves and others. Non-tenants mysteriously appear and disappear, even though the doors to the building are locked. When the super’s father, who was last seen in a care facility, shows up, listeners learn more about why these individuals came together in the first place. Shayna Small provides a layered narration of this collaborative novel, edited by Atwood and Douglas Preston and featuring contributions from 36 illustrious authors, including Celeste Ng, Dave Eggers, and Tommy Orange; the identity of each story’s author remains concealed. Small uses vocal variations of register and accent to provide voices for the numerous characters while also serving as a grounding presence to bring the multitude of stories together.