A hysterical phone call from his ex-wife and a familiar face in a photograph upend Henry Archers well-ordered life. They bring him back into contact with the child he adored, a short-term stepdaughter from a misbegotten marriage long ago. Henry is a lawyer, an old-fashioned man, gay, successful, lonely. Thalia is now twenty-nine, an actress, hopeful, estranged from her newly widowed crackpot mother - Denise, Henrys ex. Hoping it will lead to better things for her career, Thalia agrees to pose as the girlfriend of a former sitcom star and current horror-movie luminary who is down on his romantic luck. When Thalia and her complicated social life move into the basement of Henrys Upper West Side townhouse, she finds a champion in her long-lost father, and he finds new life - and maybe even new love - in the commotion.
"Starred Review. The plot alone will suck in readers, but Lipman's knack for creating lovable and multifaceted characters is the real draw." - Publishers Weekly
"Another romantic comedy from the always clever Lipman." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Evocative of both Jane Austen and Entertainment Weekly, this will be another hit with Lipman fans. Highly recommended." - Library Journal
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Elinor Lipman is the author of several fiction and non-fiction works. Her works include Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus, I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays, The Dearly Departed, The Ladies' Man, The Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel's Bed, The Way Men Act, Then She Found Me, and Into Love and Out Again. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, Gourmet, Salon, Self, More, and Yankee Magazine.
She has taught writing at Simmons, Hampshire, and Smith colleges, and won the 2001 New England Book Award for fiction. She lives in Massachusetts.
The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart.
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