Hilma Wolitzer

Linda and Robin Reismann barely know each other. The only thing that connects them is Lindas six-week-old marriage to Robins father, who has suddenly died. Widowed at twenty-six, Linda is heading to California to start over, uncertain what the future holds. In the trunk of her car, she carries her husbands amateur paintings, along with his ashes. Robin, her silent, angry teenage stepdaughter, about to be left with relatives shes never met, carries a private stash of pot and some closely guarded secrets. But these two women, journeying on a road alongside drifters and dreamers, lovers and liars, will discover something they never expected to findbetween them and inside their hearts.

Can reading change your life?Following her acclaimed novel The Doctors Daughter, award-winning author Hilma Wolitzer has now written a stirring tale about friendship, romance, inspiration, longing, and, especially, the love of good books. Summer Reading offers a seductive glimpse into the intersecting lives of three very different women.Summer in the Hamptons means crowded beaches during the day and lavish parties in the evening, but Angela Graves, a retired English professor, prefers the company of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Charlotte Bronte. Her only steady social contacts are with the women in the reading groups she leads, among them, is wealthy Lissy Snyder, a beautiful newlywed who hosts the twice-monthly meetings of the Page Turners and takes pains to hide a reading disability and her emotional neediness. Hamptons local Michelle Cutty, Lissys housecleaner, eavesdrops on the groups discussionsof books and gossipwhen shes not snooping through Lissys closets. All three women secretly struggle with troubling personal issues that threaten the tenuous balance of their lives: Lissy, abandoned by her father in childhood, is now the unwilling stepmother of her husbands hostile children; Michelle, resentful of the moneyed arrogance of the jet-setting, seasonal invaders, cant secure a commitment from her fisherman boyfriend; and solitary, bookish Angela still bears the shameful memory of a disastrous love affair that took place long ago.As Angela encourages the Page Turners to identify with the literary heroines of Trollope and Flaubert, the booksin fact, the act of reading itselfwill influence the tough choices the women must make. Stunningly evocative and richly imagined, Summer Reading explores the meaning and consequences of living an authentic life.

In this tender and funny novel, award-winning author Hilma Wolitzer mines the unpredictable fallout of suddenly becoming single later in life, and the chaos and joys of falling in love the second time around.When Edward Schuyler, a modest and bookish sixty-two-year-old science teacher, is widowed, he finds himself ambushed by female attention. There are plenty of unattached women around, but a healthy, handsome, available man is a rare and desirable creature. Edward receives phone calls from widows seeking love, or at least lunch, while well-meaning friends try to set him up at dinner parties. Even an attractive married neighbor offers herself to him.The problem is that Edward doesnt feel available. Hes still mourning his beloved wife, Bee, and prefers solitude and the familiar routine of work, gardening, and bird-watching. But then his stepchildren surprise him by placing a personal ad in The New York Review of Books on his behalf. Soon the letters flood in, and Edward is torn between his loyalty to Bees memory and his growing longing for connection. Gradually, reluctantly, he begins dating (dating after death, as one correspondent puts it), and his encounters are variously startling, comical, and sad. Just when Edward thinks he has the game figured out, a chance meeting proves that love always arrives when its least expected.With wit, warmth, and a keen understanding of the heart, An Available Man explores aspects of loneliness and togetherness, and the difference in the options open to men and women of a certain age. Most of all, the novel celebrates the endurance of love, and its thrilling capacity to bloom anew.Praise for An Available ManFunny, wise and touching.The Washington PostWonderful . . . [Hilma] Wolitzers vision of the world, for all its sorrow, is often hilarious and always compassionate.The New York Times Book ReviewSmart and poignant, An Available Man explores some universal truthsthat the past is never past, life is for the living, and dating is really, really hard.O: The Oprah MagazineCharming . . . Wolitzer is a champ at the closely observed, droll novel of manners.NPR[Hilma Wolitzer is an] American literary treasure.The Boston GlobeA deeply satisfying story of love lost and found.Bookreporter

In her first work of fiction in more than a decade, award-winning novelist Hilma Wolitzer brilliantly renders the intimate details of ordinary life and exposes a host of hidden truths. The Doctors Daughter is a haunting portrait of a woman coming to terms with her family history and the fallibility of memory.One morning, Alice Brill awakes with a sudden awareness that something is wrong. Theres a hollowness in her chest, and a sensation of dread that she cant identify or shake. Was it something shes done, or forgotten to do? As she scours her mind for the source of her unease, she confronts an array of disturbing possibilities.First, there is her marriage, a once vibrant relationship that now languishes stasis. Then theres her idle, misdirected younger son, who always needs bailing out of some difficulty. Or perhaps Alices trepidation is caused by the loss of her career as an editor at a large publishing house, and the new path shes paved for herself as a freelance book doctor. Or it might be the real doctor in her life: her father. Formerly one of New Yorks top surgeons, he now rests in a nursing home, his mind gripped by dementia. And the Eden that was Alices childhoodthe material benefits and reflected glory of being a successful doctors daughter, the romance of her parents famously perfect marriagemakes her own domestic life seem fatally flawed. While struggling to find the root of her restlessness, Alice is buoyed by her discovery of a talented new writer, a man who works by day as a machinist in Michigan. Soon their interactions and feelings intensify, and Alice realizes that the mystery shes been trying to solve lies not in the present, as she had assumed, but in the pastand in the secrets of a marriage that was never as perfect as it appeared.Like the best works of Anne Tyler, Sue Miller, and Gail Godwin, The Doctors Daughter is private yet universal, luminous and revelatoryand marks the reemergence of a singular talent in American writing.

¿Puedes resistirte a este anuncio?Hombre de ciencia. Culto y gentil,un poco calvo pero atractivo. Nuestro padre, viudo, es el hombre ideal para la mujer ideal.Edward Schuyler se enfrenta al peor momento de su vida: la muerte de su esposa. Tras enviudar, se refugia en su trabajo como profesor de ciencias y en su pasion por los libros. Pero sorpresivamente las mujeres no paran de acecharlo. Un hombre sano, atractivo y disponible no es facil de encontrar.El problema es que Edward no se siente preparado para dar ese paso. Su familia, sin embargo, toma la iniciativa y pone un anuncio en The New York Review of Books para dar con la candidata perfecta.Las ofertas se multiplican y el viudo se debate entre la fidelidad al recuerdo de Bee y la necesidad de emprender una nueva vida. Pero ¿es mejor confiar en una cita a ciegas que en el azar?La critica ha dicho... Tierna, ingeniosa, inteligente y conmovedora, Un hombre disponible explora verdades universales: que el pasado nunca es pasado, que la vida es para vivirla y que el mundo de las citas es muy, pero que muy complicado. O, the Oprah MagazineEn tiempos de ligoteo por internet y speed dating, esta obra destila un aroma encantadoramente retro y cortes, postulandose como una elegia a una estrategia de seduccion que, en hermandad con todo aquello que tiene que ver con el papel, parece encarar sus postreros actos. Antonio Lozano, La VanguardiaHilma Wolitzer es un tesoro literario estadounidense. Un hombre disponible no es solo una novela sobre el amor y el sexo... Es una reflexion, luego una impresionante montaña rusa y de nuevo una reflexion.The Boston GlobeUna maravillosa nueva novela, a menudo divertida y siempre compasiva.The New York Times Book ReviewDivertida, sabia y emotiva. Wolitzer escribe tan bien y sabe tanto que sus libros combinan lo absurdo con lo conmovedor de una manera increiblemente cautivadora.The Washington PostWolitzer maneja con maestria el ritmo... Pasa de momentos de melancolia a agudas reflexiones sobre lo absurda que puede ser la idea de "empezar de nuevo".NPRDesgarradora, comica y tierna.Library JournalWolitzer escribe sobre el dolor de perder a una pareja y sus consecuencias con notable perspicacia, gracia y humor. Una vision de la vida calida e incisiva por una autora de la que nos gustaria saber mas a menudo.BooklistLas familias son la especialidad de Wolitzer, observadora y comica cronista de lo domestico y de todo lo que ello conlleva: enfermedad, perdida, aburrimiento, irritabilidad y, en los dias buenos, amor.Publishers Weekly¿Quien dijo que el amor a los sesenta no puede ser tan grande como el primero, o incluso mejor? Mia Peluso, TTL - La StampaUna historia divertidisima escrita por una maestra del humor estadounidense.Grazia

¿Puedes resistirte a este anuncio? Hombre de ciencia. Culto y gentil,un poco calvo pero atractivo. Nuestro padre,viudo, es el hombre ideal para la mujer ideal. Edward Schuyler se enfrenta al peor momento de su vida: la muerte de su esposa. Tras enviudar, se refugia en su trabajo como profesor de ciencias y en su pasion por los libros. Pero sorpresivamente las mujeres no paran de acecharlo. Un hombre sano, atractivo y disponible no es facil de encontrar. El problema es que Edward no se siente preparado para dar ese paso. Su familia, sin embargo, toma la iniciativa y pone un anuncio en The New York Review of Books para dar con la candidata perfecta. Las ofertas se multiplican y el viudo se debate entre la fidelidad al recuerdo de Bee y la necesidad de emprender una nueva vida. Pero ¿es mejor confiar en una cita a ciegas que en el azar?La critica ha dicho...Tierna, ingeniosa, inteligente y conmovedora, Un hombre disponible explora verdades universales: que el pasado nunca es pasado, que la vida es para vivirla y que el mundo de las citas es muy, pero que muy complicado.O, the Oprah Magazine En tiempos de ligoteo por internet y speed dating, esta obra destila un aroma encantadoramente retro y cortes, postulandose como una elegia a una estrategia de seduccion que, en hermandad con todo aquello que tiene que ver con el papel, parece encarar sus postreros actos.Antonio Lozano, La Vanguardia Hilma Wolitzer es un tesoro literario estadounidense. Un hombre disponible no es solo una novela sobre el amor y el sexo... Es una reflexion, luego una impresionante montaña rusa y de nuevo una reflexion.The Boston Globe Una maravillosa nueva novela, a menudo divertida y siempre compasiva.The New York Times Book ReviewDivertida, sabia y emotiva. Wolitzer escribe tan bien y sabe tanto que sus libros combinan lo absurdo con lo conmovedor de una manera increiblemente cautivadora.The Washington Post Wolitzer maneja con maestria el ritmo... Pasa de momentos de melancolia a agudas reflexiones sobre lo absurda que puede ser la idea de empezar de nuevo.NPRDesgarradora, comica y tierna.Library Journal Wolitzer escribe sobre el dolor de perder a una pareja y sus consecuencias con notable perspicacia, gracia y humor. Una vision de la vida calida e incisiva por una autora de la que nos gustaria saber mas a menudo.Booklist Las familias son la especialidad de Wolitzer, observadora y comica cronista de lo domestico y de todo lo que ello conlleva: enfermedad, perdida, aburrimiento, irritabilidad y, en los dias buenos, amor.Publishers Weekly ¿Quien dijo que el amor a los sesenta no puede ser tan grande como el primero, o incluso mejor?Mia Peluso, TTL - La Stampa Una historia divertidisima escrita por una maestra del humor estadounidense.Grazia