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Holy Denver: A Novel of Shame and Redemption
A novel about a young woman's reluctant spiritual awakening, set in a bookstore in Denver, Colorado.
It's 2009, the height of the economic crash, and thirty-six-year-old Elizabeth Zwelland has come down in the world. Due to fallout from Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, she loses her prestigious Manhattan publishing job and is forced to move to Colorado, the home of her Beat-poet father. The only job Elizabeth can find is at an independent bookstore in downtown Denver, where she earns minimum wage and shelves the books she once edited.
Embittered by her many losses, Elizabeth becomes increasingly scornful of her coworkers and the bookstore's customers. Her behavior leads to a shocking confrontation, which forces her on a deep emotional journey that includes entering the Columbine tragedy and the JonBenet Ramsey murder. Elizabeth's awakening occurs not by following a particular religion, but by living through painful events and opening up to life in Denver—or Holy Denver, as Jack Kerouac christened the city in On the Road."
It's 2009, the height of the economic crash, and thirty-six-year-old Elizabeth Zwelland has come down in the world. Due to fallout from Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, she loses her prestigious Manhattan publishing job and is forced to move to Colorado, the home of her Beat-poet father. The only job Elizabeth can find is at an independent bookstore in downtown Denver, where she earns minimum wage and shelves the books she once edited.
Embittered by her many losses, Elizabeth becomes increasingly scornful of her coworkers and the bookstore's customers. Her behavior leads to a shocking confrontation, which forces her on a deep emotional journey that includes entering the Columbine tragedy and the JonBenet Ramsey murder. Elizabeth's awakening occurs not by following a particular religion, but by living through painful events and opening up to life in Denver—or Holy Denver, as Jack Kerouac christened the city in On the Road."
Paperback
First published January 13, 2015
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About the author
Florence Wetzel
13 books59 followersFlorence Wetzel was born 1962 in Brooklyn, NY. Her latest book, Aspasia: A Novel of Suspense and Secrets, was published in July 2025. Her book Sara My Sara: A Memoir of Friendship and Loss, was published in July 2024. Her novels include the thriller The Woman Who Went Overboard, the Swedish mystery The Grand Man, and Dashiki: A Cozy Mystery. She has also authored a horror short story collection, a book of poems and memoirs, and co-authored jazz clarinetist Perry Robinson's autobiography.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 7, 2026
Holy Denver by Florence Wetzel. Thanks to the author for the gifted copy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
After working at a prestigious Manhattan publishing firm, Elizabeth now finds herself at a Colorado bookstore working minimum wage after Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Bitter from this transition, she scorns her fellow coworkers and customers as beneath her. A shocking revelation forces her to take a hard look at herself and those around her.
I really liked this one because it was so real. I also really connected with the main character. There have been times in the past where I’ve gotten myself caught up in other people’s meanness. Sometimes when we are young there’s a comfort to it and it can be a way to bond. That said, like the main character, I have empathy and a good heart and would never purposefully and thoughtfully hurt someone. I liked how they showed the difference between Elizabeth and London along Elizabeth’s redemption story. While the story feels real and like an every day person’s story, it brings several true life cultural tragedies to the plot line; most notable Columbine and Jon Benet. This added an extra level of connection and shows how every day people find emotion within these stories that, while they may not be part of, they are affected by.
Read if you like:
-Stories about redemption
-Books about poetry, books, or bookstores
-First person narration
-Dysfunctional family history
Holy Denver is available now.
After working at a prestigious Manhattan publishing firm, Elizabeth now finds herself at a Colorado bookstore working minimum wage after Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Bitter from this transition, she scorns her fellow coworkers and customers as beneath her. A shocking revelation forces her to take a hard look at herself and those around her.
I really liked this one because it was so real. I also really connected with the main character. There have been times in the past where I’ve gotten myself caught up in other people’s meanness. Sometimes when we are young there’s a comfort to it and it can be a way to bond. That said, like the main character, I have empathy and a good heart and would never purposefully and thoughtfully hurt someone. I liked how they showed the difference between Elizabeth and London along Elizabeth’s redemption story. While the story feels real and like an every day person’s story, it brings several true life cultural tragedies to the plot line; most notable Columbine and Jon Benet. This added an extra level of connection and shows how every day people find emotion within these stories that, while they may not be part of, they are affected by.
Read if you like:
-Stories about redemption
-Books about poetry, books, or bookstores
-First person narration
-Dysfunctional family history
Holy Denver is available now.
January 6, 2026
In Florence Wetzel’s Holy Denver: A Novel of Shame and Redemption, we are introduced to Elizabeth Zwelland, a recent arrival in Colorado’s Mile High City. Zwelland is suffering from the fallout of the 2008 financial disaster. A former employee at Blue Heron, a small Manhattan Publishing firm that puts out high-quality literary fiction, Elizabeth is forced to return to Colorado, to where her father, a towering author and unbelievable blowhard from the Beat Generation, still resides. Utterly down on her luck and soaked to the bone in self-pity, she takes an apartment and manages to find a job in a Denver bookstore called “The Quill and Ink,” or Q&I for short. I’m sure the author picked the blandest and most parochial-sounding name possible, and for good reason.
I have to be honest: it was tough getting through the first half of this novel because of the highly unlikeable main character, but part two made the book well worth the effort. The humor goes a long way, and in fact, the author does telegraph the rude awakening on the horizon for young and oh-so full-of-herself Elizabeth. Her attitude in the beginning is difficult to stand, and because it’s in the first person, it comes off as even more obnoxious. Elizabeth is the product of privilege: that is beyond question. The son of famous writers, she is accepted to Barnard, of course, and with her family connections, she lands herself a cushy gig as a copy editor. I found this scene one of the juiciest because I have worked for the children of famous authors, and no matter what anyone tells you, fame is a commodity. Whether or not Mr. Dove at Blue Heron liked the Beats or not, the story makes it clear that her name most probably had a good deal to do with her getting the job.
After she’s hired at the bookstore, Elizabeth, and occasionally her bestie at Q&I, London, engage in merciless and classist ridicule of the people they deem “hicks.” Her co-workers, genuine and authentic human beings who have probably wound up at the bookstore for the same reason as her, get zero compassion. The woman who receives the worst hazing is Ruby, who is suffering from alcoholism due to PTSD. To watch her get regularly humiliated by the shallow and bitter Elizabeth is quite an ordeal. And it doesn’t end there. No one can share an opinion without being mocked by “Ms. Manhattan.”
Luckily, we get some foreshadowing letting us know Elizabeth is in for a rude awakening, especially after she waxes poetic about what a great person Simone de Beauvoir is, only to be corrected by a fellow employee who is 100% spot-on: Beauvoir was a manipulative and dishonest human being who was personally responsible for the breakup of Boris Vian’s marriage, regardless of her skill as a writer. I would know – I am the principal translator of Vian’s prose work in the United States. Using Beauvoir this way was an astute literary move by the author.
As I said, there is some great humor in the beginning. This dig was leveled at Hadley, another person she underestimated and treated quite badly:
On a shelf in my dad’s living room, there’s a photo of me as a little girl sitting on Allen Ginsberg’s lap. If Hadley had known that, he probably would have asked me to marry him.
Hadley is another one of the people she ruthlessly mocks, and she comes to feel deep shame for this in the end, thankfully.
Needless to say, the payoff is worth the wait. I had wondered why, at the beginning of the book, the author quoted famed Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna, and now I know. Denver is “Holy” because this is where Elizabeth confronts herself and begins her spiritual growth. This is what makes this book a very worthwhile read. There is nothing more moving and important than redemption, and an author who can show us that this is possible is definitely doing something right. For anyone who knows a person like Elizabeth, Holy Denver may help you remember that we are all dealing with our own pain, and unfortunately, projecting it onto others is something that occurs all too often.
I have to be honest: it was tough getting through the first half of this novel because of the highly unlikeable main character, but part two made the book well worth the effort. The humor goes a long way, and in fact, the author does telegraph the rude awakening on the horizon for young and oh-so full-of-herself Elizabeth. Her attitude in the beginning is difficult to stand, and because it’s in the first person, it comes off as even more obnoxious. Elizabeth is the product of privilege: that is beyond question. The son of famous writers, she is accepted to Barnard, of course, and with her family connections, she lands herself a cushy gig as a copy editor. I found this scene one of the juiciest because I have worked for the children of famous authors, and no matter what anyone tells you, fame is a commodity. Whether or not Mr. Dove at Blue Heron liked the Beats or not, the story makes it clear that her name most probably had a good deal to do with her getting the job.
After she’s hired at the bookstore, Elizabeth, and occasionally her bestie at Q&I, London, engage in merciless and classist ridicule of the people they deem “hicks.” Her co-workers, genuine and authentic human beings who have probably wound up at the bookstore for the same reason as her, get zero compassion. The woman who receives the worst hazing is Ruby, who is suffering from alcoholism due to PTSD. To watch her get regularly humiliated by the shallow and bitter Elizabeth is quite an ordeal. And it doesn’t end there. No one can share an opinion without being mocked by “Ms. Manhattan.”
Luckily, we get some foreshadowing letting us know Elizabeth is in for a rude awakening, especially after she waxes poetic about what a great person Simone de Beauvoir is, only to be corrected by a fellow employee who is 100% spot-on: Beauvoir was a manipulative and dishonest human being who was personally responsible for the breakup of Boris Vian’s marriage, regardless of her skill as a writer. I would know – I am the principal translator of Vian’s prose work in the United States. Using Beauvoir this way was an astute literary move by the author.
As I said, there is some great humor in the beginning. This dig was leveled at Hadley, another person she underestimated and treated quite badly:
On a shelf in my dad’s living room, there’s a photo of me as a little girl sitting on Allen Ginsberg’s lap. If Hadley had known that, he probably would have asked me to marry him.
Hadley is another one of the people she ruthlessly mocks, and she comes to feel deep shame for this in the end, thankfully.
Needless to say, the payoff is worth the wait. I had wondered why, at the beginning of the book, the author quoted famed Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna, and now I know. Denver is “Holy” because this is where Elizabeth confronts herself and begins her spiritual growth. This is what makes this book a very worthwhile read. There is nothing more moving and important than redemption, and an author who can show us that this is possible is definitely doing something right. For anyone who knows a person like Elizabeth, Holy Denver may help you remember that we are all dealing with our own pain, and unfortunately, projecting it onto others is something that occurs all too often.
December 30, 2025
This is such a varied tale, but at its heart its a story about relationships and how little we truly know about those people and places around us.
We follow Elizabeth, a 34 year old living in Denver following the loss of her job at a publishers in New York. She explains her life up until this point. Being surrounded by poets full of their own self-importance, dealing with her mothers alcoholism and her father's plain disinterest in anyone but himself. She grows up but manages to forge a life for herself.
There are times that many of the characters feel completely unlikeable, except Emma, she's wonderful, and there are times that I felt desperately sorry for Elizabeth and those around her who were also dealing with tough pasts.
There are a number of real-life tragedies mentioned throughout the book that have impacted some of the characters in various ways. I found these tough, but sensitively handled.
I have no interest in poetry, so I found a lot of information that was completely new to me, regarding the Beats poets. It is obviously a huge part of life in Denver though so it was interesting to learn something.
Ultimately Elizabeth learned a lot about kindness, both to others, and herself, and I thought that was a lovely moral.
We follow Elizabeth, a 34 year old living in Denver following the loss of her job at a publishers in New York. She explains her life up until this point. Being surrounded by poets full of their own self-importance, dealing with her mothers alcoholism and her father's plain disinterest in anyone but himself. She grows up but manages to forge a life for herself.
There are times that many of the characters feel completely unlikeable, except Emma, she's wonderful, and there are times that I felt desperately sorry for Elizabeth and those around her who were also dealing with tough pasts.
There are a number of real-life tragedies mentioned throughout the book that have impacted some of the characters in various ways. I found these tough, but sensitively handled.
I have no interest in poetry, so I found a lot of information that was completely new to me, regarding the Beats poets. It is obviously a huge part of life in Denver though so it was interesting to learn something.
Ultimately Elizabeth learned a lot about kindness, both to others, and herself, and I thought that was a lovely moral.
January 26, 2026
När boken börjar är Elizabeth ingen trevlig människa. Hon till och med snudd på mobbar vissa arbetskamrater. Men hon är så bitter och förorättad och vill bara ha tillbaka sitt gamla liv. För min del är det rätt hög igenkänningsfaktor där (minus mobbningen)… Livet går emellertid inte att sätta på rewind.
Jag kan inte läsa den här boken alltför långa stunder och kanske är det en idé som författaren har med den. Alltså att man läser en stund, stannar upp och reflekterar.
Läs hela min recension här
https://tofflandel2.com/2026/01/26/re...
Jag kan inte läsa den här boken alltför långa stunder och kanske är det en idé som författaren har med den. Alltså att man läser en stund, stannar upp och reflekterar.
Läs hela min recension här
https://tofflandel2.com/2026/01/26/re...
February 7, 2026
I loved this story! You never know what you’re going to get from Florence Whetzel! She can write about anything! I really enjoyed this story about a young woman who loses her job in the publishing industry in New York and ends up in Colorado where her father lives. She is shelving books she once edited by working in a bookstore. A confrontation leads to a suspension and some self reflection. It’s a great story- interesting, intriguing and inspiring!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews