An intelligent piece of female fiction about what happens when you say no. It’s a book that balances work against a relationship and gets it all horribly wrong. Clever, astute, moving and at times funny, it is a very assured debut novel, no doubt the beginning of a successful career for the author who has given up law to write.
With perfect pitch for the humor and heartbreak of everyday life, debut author Julie Buxbaum has fashioned a heroine who will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has loved and lost and loved again.
When twenty-nine-year-old Manhattan attorney Emily Haxby ends her happy relationship just as her boyfriend is about to propose, she can't explain to even her closest friends why she did it. But somewhere beneath her independent exterior, Emily knows her breakup with Andrew has less to do with him and more to do with...her. "It's like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart," her best friend Jess tells her.
As the holidays loom and Emily contemplates whether she made a huge mistake, the rest of her world begins to unravel. She's assigned to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit where she must defend the very values she detests by a boss who can't keep his hands to himself… her Grandpa Jack, the person she cares most about in the world, is losing it, while her emotionally distant father has left her to cope alone…and underneath it all, memories of her deceased mother remind her that love doesn't last forever.
How this brave young woman finally faces the fears that have long haunted her is the great achievement of this marvelous first novel, written with authority, grace, and wisdom.
'Gripping, wise and extremely refreshing. I loved it.' Marian Keyes
Author
About Julie Buxbaum
Originally from New York, Julie Buxbaum is a Harvard Law graduate. She put her job as a lawyer on hold to pursue her love of writing and now lives in Los Angeles, California.
