The narrator of the title story, a harried mother attending college classes in Kentucky, seeks to balance the opposing forces of her life and wonders what she might have to sacrifice. Some have pandemic settings and others are gently magical all are true to the anxieties of modern careers, marriage and parenthood. Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and DreamsĪntipodes, the fourth book and second collection of short stories by Holly Goddard Jones ( The Salt Line), offers 11 riveting stories of contemporary life in the American South and Midwest.

Laura's story, which includes cameos of multiple characters from Waxman's previous novels, is a witty, hopeful celebration of courage, community and spreading one's wings. Laura's problems may not disappear, but by the end of the novel she has better tools to deal with them, along with a patchwork but fiercely loving community. With heart and humor, Waxman sensitively explores the challenges of leaving the nest while still loving your family, as well as learning to set clear boundaries and ask for help-sometimes in the same moment. She gradually learns to stand up to her family and acknowledge her fears and anxieties (including riding in cars after her accident). public transit, her new friends support her in staunch and often entertaining fashion. Almost before she knows it, Laura finds herself adopted by booksellers Polly and Nina (whom some readers will recognize from Waxman's The Bookish Life of Nina Hill), installed in a quirky boardinghouse of sorts and trying hard not to fall for her neighbor across the hall, whom Nina and Polly call Impossibly Handsome Bob.Īs Laura navigates challenges like the reappearance of her ex, her mother's overbearing commentary from the other coast and L.A. But right after she moves to Los Angeles for grad school, while still struggling with the traumatic effects of a serious car accident that occurred a couple of years earlier, her apartment catches fire.

Laura Costello wants to believe she's a full-fledged grown-up, which means being able to handle everything on her own. Abbi Waxman ( Other People's Houses) explores the challenges of adulting in her warmhearted fifth novel, Adult Assembly Required.

Chantal v johnson post traumatic