{"product_id":"our-lady-of-the-prairie-isbn-9781328507983","title":"Our Lady Of The Prairie","description":"“As gripping as it is hilarious.” — \u003cem\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I devoured this novel . . . It just made my whole being vibrate and hum with the impossible, inevitable business of loving other people.” — Leslie Jamison, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e best-selling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Empathy Exams\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Recovering\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e For Phillipa Maakestad—theater professor and mother to a troubled, volatile daughter—life is finally, miraculously calm. What better moment, then, to fall headlong into a passionate affair, fly off to France with her new lover, and effectively take a match to her life on the Iowa prairie?\u003cbr\u003e             As she steps back to survey the damage and determine her way forward, Phillipa must contend with a wedding-day tornado, a menace of a mother-in-law who may or may not have been a Nazi collaborator, and the tragicomic revenge fantasies of her otherwise docile husband. Which is to say: the damage is not easily contained, and the path ahead is not clear.\u003cbr\u003e             Thisbe Nissen offers up a fever-pitched, bitingly funny novel about a woman’s quest to find her place in her own story. \u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie\u003c\/em\u003e is a bravura performance—a twister sweeping through the heart of the land and the land of the heart.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Wonderfully witty.” — \u003cem\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Brazen, sexy, and whip-smart.” — \u003cem\u003eRefinery29\u003c\/em\u003e | \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/em\u003e's \"What to Read in February\"\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"As gripping as it is hilarious...\u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie\u003c\/em\u003e captures Nissen’s curiosity about the people she has lived around and encountered.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/em\u003e, \"\u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie, \u003c\/em\u003ethe Novel That Makes Hay of the Recent Political Past\"\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"Wonderfully witty...A satirical take on the serene Midwestern life and an insightful, comical look at a woman whose life starts to unravel at breakneck speed.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/em\u003e, \"The Most Anticipated Fiction Books of 2018\"\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"Brazen, sexy, and whip smart: We adored this ode to the power and spirit of feisty Midwestern women.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eRefinery 29\u003c\/em\u003e, \"The Best Books Of 2018 We Can't Wait To Read This Month\"\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"While most marriage stories are concerned with the first flush of wedded life, Nissen's new novel, set during the 2004 Bush-Kerry election, skips straight to the end. 'From the moment I saw Lucius Bocelli,' the first sentence reads, 'I wanted to go to bed with him.' One problem: The narrator, 50-year-old Phillipa Maakestad, is already married...[The novel] reveal[s] something that run much deeper and darker than mere extramarital passion.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"Thisbe Nissen's \u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie\u003c\/em\u003e is an exploration of what it means to be a levelheaded individual who suddenly has a life that is anything but level. At times it will leave you in stitches, at others, in tears — but it's one hell of a read.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003ePopSugar\u003c\/em\u003e, \"The 16 Best Books Hitting Shelves in January\"\u003c\/strong\u003e   \"Nissen excels at capturing her protagonist as a woman on the edge—the elation, the sex, the emotional roller coaster, the questionable choices.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e   \"With humor, grace, and honesty, Nissen’s three heroines ride an emotional roller coaster as they reconcile their respective pasts, ride out a turbulent present, and, hopefully, secure a more serene future.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e  \"I devoured this novel. It's full of the sweet, crazed, exhausted, love-saturated, tension-flecked bustle of family, and the finely-rendered complexities of intimacy--that vexing, sublime, shape-shifting beast. So much humanity and surprise in this book. It just made my whole being vibrate and hum with the impossible, inevitable business of loving other people.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLeslie Jamison, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestselling author \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eof \u003cem\u003eThe Empathy Exams\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Recovering\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e   \"Thisbe Nissen's \u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie\u003c\/em\u003e is a Midwestern fever dream, a bold and ambitious look into the roiling emotions of a woman caught between \u003cem\u003eshould\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ecould\u003c\/em\u003e, between \u003cem\u003eI must\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eI want\u003c\/em\u003e. I found it funny, angry, hopeful, heartfelt, and above all, honest: about marriage, family, and that old-fashioned, endlessly fascinating thing called desire.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Joshua Ferris, author of \u003cem\u003eThen We Came to the End\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Dinner Party\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   “\u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie\u003c\/em\u003e is a marvel of a book: exuberant, frisky, and fierce. Thisbe Nissen's surprising storytelling is matched only by her ability to conjure such a terrific heroine: a woman brimming with desire and rage, and a need for secrets to step into the light.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Edan Lepucki, author of \u003cem\u003eWoman No. 17\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   “I’ve been a Thisbe Nissen fan since page one of \u003cem\u003eThe Good People of New York.\u003c\/em\u003e And now, loyalty rewarded!  \u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie \u003c\/em\u003edelivers this wonderful author's characteristic wit, layered with delicious dysfunction, poignancy, and heart.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Elinor Lipman, author of \u003cem\u003eOn Turpentine Lane\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   “\u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie\u003c\/em\u003e is a tumultuous romp, both cautionary and liberating. A mystery winds its way through these pages, as Thisbe Nissen explores marriage, lust, midlife crises and motherhood, crafting complex portraits not only of her characters but also of the land they inhabit; and, one thing is clear, this novel was written in praise of the prairie itself.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Julianna Baggott, author of \u003cem\u003eHarriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e   “The temptation will be to call Thisbe Nissen’s captivating \u003cem\u003eOur Lady of the Prairie \u003c\/em\u003eone of the decade’s Great Midwestern Novels (and it is!). But, above all, this is a great \u003cem\u003eAmerican\u003c\/em\u003e novel, deftly capturing our contemporary dysfunctions and denials, our rages and regrets, with a blazing wit and burning heart. It is an entertaining, moving epic that captures a nation, and its people, teetering on new precipices, wanting certainty, but full of dreams and desires that make certainty impossible.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—Dean Bakopoulos, author of\u003cem\u003e Summerlong\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Paperbacks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44890251395301,"sku":"NP9781328507983","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781328507983.jpg?v=1730232868","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/our-lady-of-the-prairie-isbn-9781328507983","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}