Pre-order: Ethan Hawke & Me: The Before Trilogy, by Andrew Bertaina
When Andrew Bertaina first saw the 1995 Ethan Hawke-Julie Delpy film Before Sunrise—swiping the tape from his sister’s bedroom—he was fifteen, painfully shy, and living a sheltered existence in small-town California. The movie cracked something open in him, with its romantic European setting and its charming, intelligent protagonists, who fall in love with each other over the course of a day spent wandering the streets of Vienna. Within the movie’s story seemed to lie a promise: that you could truly be known by another person, that a relationship could be a never-ending conversation with someone who was both interested and interesting.
Fast-forward 25 years, and Andrew’s teenaged romanticism has been challenged by life’s
realities, which have included a marriage, a child, a move across the country, a divorce. Meanwhile, the film’s central relationship has also been challenged and complicated by two sequels. When Andrew decides to revisit the first film, with a new partner and a bottle of wine—a rare date night for two single parents—he can’t help but wonder: Will he still see himself in themovie? And, perhaps more importantly, will she?
Publishing May 6, 2025. Preorders available now.
ISBN: 979-8-9850089-4-4
When Andrew Bertaina first saw the 1995 Ethan Hawke-Julie Delpy film Before Sunrise—swiping the tape from his sister’s bedroom—he was fifteen, painfully shy, and living a sheltered existence in small-town California. The movie cracked something open in him, with its romantic European setting and its charming, intelligent protagonists, who fall in love with each other over the course of a day spent wandering the streets of Vienna. Within the movie’s story seemed to lie a promise: that you could truly be known by another person, that a relationship could be a never-ending conversation with someone who was both interested and interesting.
Fast-forward 25 years, and Andrew’s teenaged romanticism has been challenged by life’s
realities, which have included a marriage, a child, a move across the country, a divorce. Meanwhile, the film’s central relationship has also been challenged and complicated by two sequels. When Andrew decides to revisit the first film, with a new partner and a bottle of wine—a rare date night for two single parents—he can’t help but wonder: Will he still see himself in themovie? And, perhaps more importantly, will she?
Publishing May 6, 2025. Preorders available now.
ISBN: 979-8-9850089-4-4
When Andrew Bertaina first saw the 1995 Ethan Hawke-Julie Delpy film Before Sunrise—swiping the tape from his sister’s bedroom—he was fifteen, painfully shy, and living a sheltered existence in small-town California. The movie cracked something open in him, with its romantic European setting and its charming, intelligent protagonists, who fall in love with each other over the course of a day spent wandering the streets of Vienna. Within the movie’s story seemed to lie a promise: that you could truly be known by another person, that a relationship could be a never-ending conversation with someone who was both interested and interesting.
Fast-forward 25 years, and Andrew’s teenaged romanticism has been challenged by life’s
realities, which have included a marriage, a child, a move across the country, a divorce. Meanwhile, the film’s central relationship has also been challenged and complicated by two sequels. When Andrew decides to revisit the first film, with a new partner and a bottle of wine—a rare date night for two single parents—he can’t help but wonder: Will he still see himself in themovie? And, perhaps more importantly, will she?
Publishing May 6, 2025. Preorders available now.
ISBN: 979-8-9850089-4-4
About the author
Kristin Keane is the author of the novella Luminaries (Omnidawn, 2021). Her work has appeared in The Normal School, The New England Review, Electric Literature and elsewhere. She is a doctoral fellow at Stanford University where she researches the teaching and learning of literacy.