The Awkward Age: A Novel

The Awkward Age: A Novel

<b><b>"A very smart, soulful, compelling, elegantly written domestic novel about a wedged-together family, and what can go wrong when teenage children decide they have minds (and hormones) of their own." <i><i>—</i></i>Nick Hornby </b><br><br>“A spry and accomplished comedy of manners.” <i>—The New York Times Book Review</i></b><br><b><br></b><i>“They've chosen the one thing that will make our family life impossible. It's genius really, when you think about it. It's the perfect sabotage.”</i><br> <br>Julia Alden has fallen deeply, unexpectedly in love. American obstetrician James is everything she didn't know she wanted--if only her teenage daughter, Gwen, didn't hate him so much. Uniting two households is never easy, but when Gwen turns for comfort to James's seventeen-year-old son, Nathan, the consequences will test her mother's loyalty and threaten all their fragile new happiness.<br><br>This is a moving and powerful novel about the modern family: about starting over; about love, guilt, and generosity; about building something beautiful amid the mess and complexity of what came before. It is a story about standing by the ones we love, even while they make mistakes. We would give anything to make our children happy. But how much should they ask?