Mandy Berman

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Texas

A Novel

How are young women supposed to see each other clearly when they can't even see themselves? This razor-sharp novel "perfectly captures [the] power dynamics and identity issues that . . . women are forced to face."--Marie Claire (Best Books of the Year)

Fiona and Liv are seniors at Buchanan College, a small liberal arts school in rural Pennsylvania. Fiona, who is still struggling emotionally after the death of her younger sister, is spending her final college year sleeping with abrasive men she meets in bars. Liv is happily coupled and on the fast track to marriage with an all-American frat boy. Both of their journeys, and their friendship, will be derailed by the relationships they develop with Oliver Ash, a ruggedly good-looking visiting literature professor whose first novel was published to great success when he was twenty-six.

But now Oliver is in his early forties, with thinning hair and a checkered past, including talk of a relationship with an underage woman--a former student--at a previous teaching job. Meanwhile, Oliver's wife, Simone, is pursuing an academic research project in Berlin, raising their five-year-old son, dealing with her husband's absence, and wondering if their marriage is beyond repair.

This sly, stunning, wise-beyond-its-years novel is told from the perspectives of the three women and showcases Mandy Berman's talent for exploring the complexities of desire, friendship, identity, and power dynamics in the contemporary moment.

Praise for The Learning Curve

"Readers expecting a typical love triangle won't find one. Instead, Berman delivers a thorough and incredibly timely investigation into relationship power imbalances that's sure to start a lot of conversations."--The Millions

"Fiona and Liv are two best friends who became inseparable after Fiona experienced a family tragedy. Senior year of college, their lives are headed in different directions, and their differences are only highlighted by the sudden arrival of famed writer and controversial figure Oliver Ash. It's not what you think--at least, not entirely. This novel, through different perspectives, explores loss, grief, sex, friendship, power dynamics, and much more."--Betches

"You win some, you learn some. The Learning Curve by Mandy Berman follows two roommates who develop relationships with a visiting professor with a questionable past. Spoiler: things get complicated."--The Skimm

The Learning Curve

4873be9a-aedc-4450-85cc-6fe0acedb010-1

California

"Rachel and Fiona meet at Camp Marigold, in the lush hills of the Berkshires when they are pre-adolescents: girls who are on the cusp of young-adulthood, insecure and curious in equal turns about sex, desperate for recognition and a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves. Rachel is a tough, feisty girl from Manhattan; Fiona a more reticient girl from the suburbs, always in Rachel's shadow. Together with their families, lovers, fellow counselors and campers the two will navigate the transition from girlhood to womanhood, learning who they are and who they want to become. Perennials is a beautifully distilled love song to the pains and pleasures of growing up. Full of wit, insight, and a piercing emotional keenness, Perennials will transport readers to a world of forests and lakes, birdsongs and campfires, where nothing ever changes and everything does over the course of a single summer."--

Perennials

71d1a075-d883-4af2-8526-91a0a36cbb5c-1

Illinois

Oregon

bought at a book sale just never got around to it!

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

South Carolina

Michigan

#hardcover #comingofage #fiction#lovetriangle #college #romance 

New Mexico

A novel

#hardcover #college #lovetriangle #romance The book is in good condition see the pictures. 

Indiana

#fiction #novel #literature #literaryfiction #comingofage #women 

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Minnesota

"This highly anticipated coming-of-age novel . . . delivers the perfect sunny trifecta: summer camp drama, growing pains, and the enduring power of female friendships."--Redbook

At what point does childhood end and adulthood begin? Mandy Berman's evocative debut novel captures, through the lens of summer camp both the thrill and pain of growing up.

Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin used to treasure their summers together as campers at Camp Marigold. Now, reunited as counselors after their first year of college, their relationship is more complicated. Rebellious Rachel, a street-smart city kid raised by a single mother, has been losing patience with her best friend's insecurities; Fiona, the middle child of a not-so-perfect suburban family, envies Rachel's popularity with their campers and fellow counselors. For the first time, the two friends start keeping secrets from each other. Through them, as well as from the perspectives of their fellow counselors, their campers, and their mothers, we witness the tensions of the turbulent summer build to a tragic event, which forces Rachel and Fiona to confront their pasts--and the adults they're becoming.

A seductive blast of nostalgia, a striking portrait of adolescent longing, and a tribute to female friendship, Perennials will speak to everyone who still remembers that bittersweet moment when innocence is lost forever.

Praise for Perennials

"Berman is at her most insightful when exploring the awkward unfurling of female adolescence. . . . Perennials is a sharp meditation on the changing female body, and the ways in which such changes are often involuntary and unwanted. . . . [She] skillfully captures the details and rituals of camp."--J. Courtney Sullivan, The New York Times Book Review

"Berman's command of prose is astounding. The more you read, the more difficult it is to believe that this is a debut novel. . . . Charged with hope, longing, an unexpected sensuality, and a bruised tenderness, Perennials is a book you should most definitely put near the top of your reading list."--Pop Dust

"Snappy and irresistible, Perennials takes readers back to summer camp, where her characters' first friendships and treasons play out in sharp dialogue and playful, generous prose."--Kristopher Jansma, author of Why We Came to the City

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Mandy Berman

The Learning Curve

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The Learning Curve

Mandy Berman

Perennials

Mandy Berman

Perennials