Modern Lovers

Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Vacationers, a smart, highly entertaining novel about a tight-knit group of friends from college and what it means to finally grow up well after adulthood has set in. Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy property, and start families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch - of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool - to their own teenage offspring. Back in the band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her girl-next-door smile, rich-kid Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and beautiful Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same Brooklyn neighbourhood and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adult lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose can never be reclaimed. Straub packs wisdom and insight and humour together in a satisfying book about neighbours and nosiness, ambition and pleasure, the excitement of youth, the shock of middle age, and the fact that our passions - be they food, or friendship, or music - never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us. PRAISE FOR EMMA STRAUB's FICTION 'Emma Straub is a magician, full of brilliance and surprise' Lorrie Moore 'Intimate, epic, beautifully observed' Jennifer Egan 'Emma Straub is a gorgeous and witty storyteller' Elizabeth Gilbert 'Witty and big-hearted ...leaves you smiling for days' Maria Semple 'Funny, poignant and beautifully observed' Jojo Moyes 'Cast from the same mould as the likes of Liza Klaussmann's Tigers in Red Weather ...a gently witty narrative that slips down as easily as a beachside cocktail' Independent 'Straub is telling in her observation, superb in her perception and awesome in her control of plot ' Daily Mail

Reviews

'Emma Straub is a magician, full of brilliance and surprise' (Lorrie Moore) 'Intimate, epic, beautifully observed' (Jennifer Egan). 'Emma Straub is a gorgeous and witty storyteller' (Elizabeth Gilbert). 'Witty and big-hearted ... leaves you smiling for days' (Maria Semple). 'Funny, poignant and beautifully observed' (Jojo Moyes).'Cast from the same mould as the likes of Liza Klaussmann's Tigers in Red Weather ...a gently witty narrative that slips down as easily as a beachside cocktail' (Independent). 'Straub is telling in her observation, superb in her perception and awesome in her control of plot ' (Daily Mail).

Author description

Emma Straub is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Vacationers, Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures, and the short story collection Other People We Married. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Elle, and Conde Nast Traveller, and she is a contributing writer for Rookie. Straub's work has been published in fifteen countries.