The Washington Story.

Langer, Adam (author).

Langer delivers a rapidly consumable sequel to his hit debut novel, Crossing California (2004), a tale of early 1980s Chicago. Here Langer follows the post-high-school paths of his smart, searching, and sweetly tough characters, especially the sharp-tongued, aspiring actress, Michelle; her brainy and cautious journalist-in-the-making sister, Jill; and experimental filmmaker and potential artistic genius, Muley. Langer’s title refers to the years during which the late, great Harold Washington served as Chicago’s first African American mayor, but for all his pinpointing of historical moments and race issues, Langer is not a novelist of deep social or political thought. Instead, his forte is creating sensitive and endearing characters and embroiling them in intriguingly stressful and ultimately instructive predicaments involving sex, art, loyalty, and moral dilemmas. Some of the best scenes in this altogether smart, fresh, and busy novel take place not in Chicago but in Poughkeepsie, New York, where Jill attends Vassar and spars with her irascible grandmother. Readers of Langer’s emotionally intense first novel may find this a glossier work, but it is plenty involving, worthy, and fun.