This was my first Elinor Lipman book, but it won't be my last. Light and breezy in tone, but substantial beneath the surface. The story revolves around a thirty-two year-old woman named Frank, who's dealing with A LOT right now: a flaky fiancé, an incompetent boss, a new fixer-upper with a disturbing past, a father who's having a midlife crisis. But her office-mate pal is helping her through, and it's a fun and funny journey.

From the publisher: "Melinda LeBlanc, at 30, makes an untriumphant return to Harrow, Massachusetts, her recently gentrified hometown. She's unmarried, romanced out, designing wedding bouquets for old classmates who hadn't known a fraction of her early popularity. So why is she alone—not counting the occasional horizontal encounter—while these dull brides have found men and happiness? Libby Getchel, who designs strange dresses in the shop next door, and Dennis Vaughan, a native son who owns the hip Brookhoppers, a fly fisherman's paradise, provide friendship in mutating forms. The Way Men Act explores age-old quandary: Can you every truly go home again? Find out in this 'wise and charming novel'"

On Turpentine Lane was my first Elinor Lipman book, but it won't be my last. This deal combines three of Lipman's works. The Washington Post calls her an "Austen-like stylist."

Elinor Lipman's books are light and breezy in tone, but substantial beneath the surface. One review calls her "Austen-like" in style. Daphne Maritch isn't sure what to do when she inherits her mother's heavily annotated high school year book. She's moving to a small New York City apartment, and it does not, she decides, "spark joy." In a fit of decluttering, she gets rid of it. But when a local documentarian (a.k.a. the neighborhood busybody) finds it in the recycling bin, Daphne gets caught up in the secrets all those notes and scribbles reveal.

The New York Times Book Review called this "More delicious than my cup of steaming cocoa…tender, funny…The View from Penthouse B sparkles with wit." I recommended this fast and fun read to Mary Laura Philpott on Episode 195 of What Should I Read Next ("Wanted: book enthusiast at large"). Two adult sisters have grown apart, but when they each suffer their own personal and economic tragedies, necessity brings them together again, and they're soon cobbling together a new found family in a Greenwich Village penthouse.

Elinor Lipman’s books are light and breezy in tone, but substantial beneath the surface. From the publisher: "A liberal New England college campus is a peculiar place for a girl to grow up. Massachusetts, 1970s. Born to a pair of 'bleeding heart' professors who live on campus as dorm parents, Frederica Hatch soon finds herself the unofficial mascot of Dewing College. Life is so ideal that by the time she becomes a teenager, Frederica finds herself chafing under the care of 'the most annoyingly evenhanded parental team in the history of civilization.' But she's about to learn that life isn’t as simple or idyllic as it seems—even amid the manicured lawns of a small women’s college like Dewing. A new dorm parent has just arrived on campus. Laura Lee French is glamorous, worldly, and the former wife of Frederica’s father. Suddenly, Frederica sees her parents' lives—and by extension her own—in a whole new light."

From the publisher: "From the beloved and acclaimed novelist, a collection of witty, moving essays.In her two decades of writing, Elinor Lipman has populated her fictional universe with characters so utterly real that we feel like they’re old friends. Now she shares an even more intimate world with us—her own—in essays that offer a candid, charming take on modern life. Looking back and forging ahead, she considers the subjects that matter most: childhood and condiments, long marriage and solo living, career and politics. Here you’ll find the lighthearted: a celebration of four decades of All My Children, a reflection on being Jewish in heavily Irish-Catholic Lowell on St. Patrick’s Day, a hilariously unflinching account of her tiptoe into online dating. But she also tackles the serious and profound in eloquent stories of unexpected widowhood and caring for elderly parents that use her struggles to illuminate ours. Whether for Lipman’s longtime readers or those who love the essays of Nora Ephron or Anna Quindlen, I Can't Complain is a diverting delight."

Elinor Lipman’s books are light and breezy in tone, but substantial beneath the surface. One reviewer calls this "a punchy little comedy of manners.... Think Jane Austen in the Catskills" (Chicago Tribune).