Love and Other Impossible Pursuits - by Ayelet Waldman (Paperback)

About the Book

Waldman's provocative new novel--now in paperback--provides an emotionally gripping, unflinchingly honest look at what it's like to live and love in the real world.

Book Synopsis

In this moving, wry, and candid novel, widely acclaimed novelist Ayelet Waldman takes us through one woman's passage through love, loss, and the strange absurdities of modern life.Emilia Greenleaf believed that she had found her soulmate, the man she was meant to spend her life with. But life seems a lot less rosy when Emilia has to deal with the most neurotic and sheltered five-year-old in New York City: her new stepson William. Now Emilia finds herself trying to flag down taxis with a giant, industrial-strength car seat, looking for perfect, strawberry-flavored, lactose-free cupcakes, receiving corrections on her French pronunciation from her supercilious stepson - and attempting to find balance in a new family that's both larger, and smaller, than she bargained for. In Love and Other Impossible Pursuits Ayelet Waldman has created a novel rich with humor and truth, perfectly characterizing one woman's search for answers in a crazily uncertain world.

Review Quotes

"A romantic, shocking . . . page-turner [that] actually says something new and interesting about women, families and love." -The New York Times Book Review"Absorbing. . . . Compelling and artfully drawn. . . . The novel is beautifully paced and unfolds seamlessly." -The Washington Post"A smart and finally affecting portrayal of a woman working her way out of her own grandiose self-image into something like real love." -New York"The emotions Waldman instills in her protagonist are visceral and convincing. . . . [Emilia's] always sharp, wickedly funny, opinionated and cheerfully bitter, lending depth and energy to this wise, entertaining book." -San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

Ayelet (pronounced "I yell it") Waldman is the author of Daughter's Keeper and of the Mommy-Track mystery series. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, Child magazine, and other publications, and she has a regular column on Salon.com. She and her husband, the novelist Michael Chabon, live in Berkeley, California, with their four children. www.ayeletwaldman.com