{"product_id":"this-is-a-love-story-a-read-with-jenna-pick-isbn-9780593851265","title":"This Is a Love Story: A Read with Jenna Pick","description":"\u003cb\u003eAN INSTANT \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BESTSELLER | READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON \u003ci\u003eTODAY\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This may be the most epic love story I’ve ever, ever read.”—Jenna Bush Hager on \u003ci\u003eTODAY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn intimate and lyrical celebration of great love, great art, and the sacrifices we make for both\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor fifty years, Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park, as starry-eyed young lovers, as frustrated and exhausted parents, as artists watching their careers take flight. They came alone when they needed to get away from each other, and together when they had something important to discuss. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew—their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives—and the parts they didn’t always want to know—the determined young student of Abe’s looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood, and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs. Told in various points of view, even in conversation with Central Park, these voices weave in and out to paint a portrait as complicated and essential as love itself. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn homage to New York City, to romance, and even to loss, \u003ci\u003eThis Is a Love Story \u003c\/i\u003etenderly and suspensefully captures deep truths about life and marriage in radiant prose. It is about love that endures despite what life throws at us, or perhaps even because of it.\"Just in time for Valentine's Day, Soffer’s unapologetically romantic novel includes many tales that tug at the heartstrings. First and foremost is the long marriage of Abe and Jane, a writer and an artist whose complicated, colorful life together is winding down as she lays dying. While he runs through a litany of their memories together . . . we catch glimpses of other great loves: their son’s connection with his grandmother, Jane’s mind meld with an old friend, Abe’s affinity for the march of words on a page and New Yorkers’ devotion to Central Park. Soffer’s saga goes down like bittersweet chocolate, with a hint of sugar to soften the sharp edge of loss.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Elisabeth Egan, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times \u003c\/i\u003e(Book of the Week)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[An] undeniably effective love story. . . Ms. Soffer opens the novel to different perspectives to explore these crises, but, touchingly, she always returns to the couple’s resilient connection. Thinking of the craft of storytelling, Abe worries that too much happiness 'writes white' on the page. In this book, though, it’s the joyful moments that stand out.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I can't stop thinking about \u003ci\u003eThis is a Love Story \u003c\/i\u003eby Jessica Soffer . . . In New York City, but perhaps in any place, there are moments between the hustle and bustle when you look up to the sky and breathe, grateful to just \u003ci\u003ebe\u003c\/i\u003e for another day. Reading \u003ci\u003eThis is a Love Story\u003c\/i\u003e feels a little like that. Love stories may be far from perfect, but how lucky are we?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The lyrical novel plays with perspective, most chapters include what the couple recalled from Abe’s perspective . . . but it also lends full and empathetic points of view to Jane, their son, the young student in love with Abe, and even—between each changed perspective— the voice of Central Park itself and the eclectic cast of other lovers who have called its brambling paths their own. A love letter to the panorama of life—and love—in New York City.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eOprah Daily\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A delightfully New York marriage... A touching romance that's also an ode to the urban oasis where it began.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Get ready to have your emotions \u003ci\u003erocked \u003c\/i\u003eby this moving family saga about a couple’s enduring love and the son who feels left out of their story.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eTODAY.com\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It's an ode to a marriage, but also to Central Park itself.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eTown \u0026amp; Country\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThis Is A Love Sto­ry \u003c\/i\u003eis a pro­found med­i­ta­tion on mar­riage, moth­er­hood, and artis­tic ambi­tion . . . An epic poem, a char­ac­ter study, and a sparkling ode to New York. There is no ques­tion that Sof­fer is a gift­ed writer with an ear for strik­ing lan­guage, but she also impress­es in her abil­i­ty to craft a nov­el that feels authen­tic. . . The mem­o­ries Jane and Abe share run the gamut from del­i­cate and roman­tic to mun­dane and painful — muse­um exhi­bi­tions and swanky cel­e­bra­tions merge with trips to the gro­cery store, bleed­ing, and bed­pans. In one sense, their life togeth­er feels almost enchant­ed, but ulti­mate­ly, it is as ordi­nary and finite as any­one else’s. In the end, Soffer’s nov­el reminds us of the beau­ty that accom­pa­nies life’s small­est — and some­times ugli­est — moments. Even bad mem­o­ries can be good ones in a love sto­ry as splen­did as this one.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Lyn­da Cohen Loigman,\u003ci\u003e Jewish Book Council\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Powerful, heartfelt and heartwrenching…this story of true love has it all. . . . Told in various points of view, the radiant tale captures the depths of life, family and love.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eWoman's World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“There’s something about multi-character narratives that makes them wildly appealing. Feeling seen, being listened to, isn’t that what we all want? What better gift could an author give her beloved characters than the chance to state their case from their perspective? Jessica Soffer clearly loves her characters, showers each with empathy galore. . . . A love story told with . . . love.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe East Hampton Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Soffer’s writing is simple yet poetic. Most impressive is her ability to capture the depths of emotions of all her characters while rooting readers in such a strong sense of place…A New York love story at its finest.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Written with delicate and beautiful brush strokes, this is a love story of a long marriage, a love story of Central Park, a story of how hard life can be, and how the hard leaves its mark, but the love does too. Every once in a while I read a novel and think, What a gift. This is one of those books.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ann Napolitano, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHello Beautiful \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eDear Edward\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThis Is A Love Story\u003c\/i\u003e is Jessica Soffer’s iridescent, kaleidoscopic, homerun of a novel. It’s a beautiful book of seasons, marking the cycles of a city, a family, the creative process, and a single and singular life.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Nathan Englander, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eDinner at the Center of the Earth\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThis Is A Love Story\u003c\/i\u003e is a revelation—the kind of novel to read in one sitting. It performs the magic trick of being a highly specific story that feels universal and timeless. When you finish, you'll find that your worldview has been gently and deftly altered by an author whose tenderness toward her characters—and toward language itself—is unparalleled.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Liz Moore, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eLong Bright River\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe God of the Woods\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"With her lyrical, graceful novel of love and art, Jessica Soffer has captured the glittering magic of New York City.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Jenny Jackson, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003ePineapple Street\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eJessica Soffer is the author of \u003ci\u003eThis Is a Love Story\u003c\/i\u003e, a Read With Jenna pick and instant \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller, and \u003ci\u003eTomorrow There Will Be Apricots\u003c\/i\u003e. She grew up in New York City, attended Connecticut College, and earned her MFA at Hunter College. Her work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e The New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e Real Simple\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e Saveur\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e The Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e Vogue\u003c\/i\u003e, and on NPR’s \u003ci\u003eSelected Shorts\u003c\/i\u003e. She teaches creative writing to small groups and in the corporate space and lives in Sag Harbor, New York with her family.","brand":"Dutton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305310048485,"sku":"NP9780593851265","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593851265.jpg?v=1767742479","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/this-is-a-love-story-a-read-with-jenna-pick-isbn-9780593851265","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}