Read, Love, Repeat: Three Smart Romantic Comedies—Witty Novels in the Modern Jane Austen Style

by Elinor Lipman

For longtime fans and new readers alike, Read, Love, Three Novels by Elinor Lipman collects three beloved works (My Latest Grievance, The Family Man, The View from Penthouse B) by the “enchanting, infinitely witty yet serious, exceptionally intelligent, wholly original, and Austen-like stylist”* Elinor Lipman. (*Fay Weldon, The Washington Post)MY LATEST GRIEVANCEMy Latest Grievance stars the beguiling teenager Frederica Hatch, the “Eloise of Dewing College.” Born and raised in the dormitory of this small women's college and chafing under the care of “the most annoyingly evenhanded parental team in the history of civilization,” Frederica is starting to feel that her life is stiflingly snug. That all changes with the arrival on campus of a new dorm mother, the glamorous Laura Lee French, the frenetic center of her own universe.THE FAMILY MAN A hysterical phone call from Henry Archer’s ex-wife and a familiar face in a photograph upend his well-ordered life and bring him back into contact with the child he adored, a short-term stepdaughter from a misbegotten marriage long ago. Henry is a lawyer, an old-fashioned man, gay, successful, lonely. Thalia is now twenty-nine, an actress-hopeful, estranged from her newly widowed eccentric mother—Denise, Henry’s ex. Hoping it will lead to better things for her career, Thalia agrees to pose as the girlfriend of a horror-movie luminary who is down on his romantic luck. When Thalia and her complicated social life move into the basement of Henry’s Upper West Side townhouse, she finds a champion in her long-lost father, and he finds new life—and maybe even new love—in the commotion.THE VIEW FROM PENTHOUSE B Unexpectedly widowed Gwen-Laura Schmidt is still mourning her husband, Edwin, when her older sister Margot invites her to join forces as roommates in Margot’s luxurious Greenwich Village apartment. For Margot, divorced amid scandal ( her husband was a fertility doctor) and then made Ponzi-poor, it’s a chance to shake Gwen out of her grief and help make ends meet. To further this effort, she enlists a third boarder, the handsome, cupcake-baking Anthony. As the three swap moneymaking schemes and timid Gwen ventures back out into the dating world, the arrival of Margot’s paroled ex in the efficiency apartment downstairs creates not just complications but the chance for all sorts of unexpected forgiveness. A sister story about love, loneliness, and new life in middle age from one of our finest comic writers.

Genres: Fiction

897 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 17, 2018

About the author

I love talking with readers - for 1:1s and Book Club visits, find me on Skolay: www.skolay.com/writers/elinor-lipman

Elinor Lipman is the author of 14 humorous novels about contemporary American society; essay and short story collections. Born and raised in Lowell, MA, she divides her time between Manhattan and the Hudson Valley of New York. She received the New England Book award for fiction in 2001. Her first novel, "Then She Found Me," was adapted for the screen, starring Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick. Her fourth novel, "The Inn at Lake Devine" was adapted for the off-off Broadway stage by Tongue in Cheek Theater. In 2011-2012, she held the Elizabeth Drew chair in creative writing at Smith College. Her novel, “Ms. Demeanor," was a finalist for the 2023 Thurber Prize for American Humor. In 2021, her hometown Library, Pollard Memorial Library in Lowell, established The Elinor Lipman Prize, awarded annually to Lowell residents and students at Lowell universities.

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three very good books by one of our best contemporary authors, each reviewed by me individually on Goodreads. Save money. Buy the set.

[Allison Frantz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Elinor Lipman’s writing.... and I love her characters, but perhaps due the fact that this contained 3 books in one, I got tired and wanted to abandon several times. Waaaay too into the weeds many times. I will read more of her books in the future but need a break for now!

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tedious reading, annoying characters.