Ready, Set, Oh

by Diane Josefowicz

Diane Josefowicz’s debut novel, READY, SET, OH, is set against the upheavals of the Sixties and chronicles the struggles of a man who has just lost his draft deferment, a young pregnant woman with fragile mental health, and a UFO-chasing astronomer, each hostages in their own way to their families and to history.

Providence, Rhode Island, 1967, Tino Battuta returns home from medical school in disgrace and without his draft deferment to attend his grandfather’s funeral and to spend time with the love of his life, Primrose Tirocchi. Primrose, an art student, has an abusive home life and serious mental health challenges. But Primrose has she is writing The Book of Love with her best friend while dreaming about living in New York and showing her art in galleries. Tino has a dream as to escape the war.

Complicating matters, Primrose is soon carrying Tino’s baby. Tino isn’t giving her the ring she wants, but Primrose isn’t so sure about their relationship either. Soon Primrose falls for Lupo Light, a budding astronomer with a deferment, who is caught up in a popular movement to link political liberation to a wave of UFO sightings.

While Tino and his best friend work on a boat that could be their ticket to Canada, Primrose joins the Students for a Democratic Society while trying to keep a grasp on her tenuous mental health.

Together, Primrose and Tino discover the limits of their finite possibilities as well as the fragility of their resilience. Ultimately, they must confront the how much choice do we really have in the paths our lives take?

Named "2022 Best Indie Notable Indie" by Shelf Unbound Magazine


"Compelling and especially engaging ... Showing a genuine flair for originality and an exceptional gift for narrative-driven storytelling, Ready, Set, Oh is unreservedly recommended for community libraries and contemporary fiction collections." — Midwest Book Review

“Josefowicz finds the large truths in our smallest state, leaving an indelible mark on our broader literary landscape. A stunning debut.” —Jacob M. Appel, author of Einstein's Beach House

“Every chapter bursts out of the gate in this devastatingly funny, high-intensity novel of working-class Rhode Island.” —Kirstin Allio, author of Buddhism For Western Children and Garner

“Ready, Set, Oh gives you the quahogs, the red gravy, the Italian-from-Italy suits. A story this big could only take place in Rhode Island.” —William Walsh, author of Forty-Five American Boys

“Darkly humorous, searingly poignant, and seamlessly wrought in sure-handed prose, Diane Josefowicz’s Ready, Set, Oh encompasses both the familiar and the wildly imaginative.” —Carla Panciera, author of Bewildered, winner of the Grace Paley Prize in short fiction

“…An enthralling novel about some of the most interesting things there the Sixties, love, UFOs, and strange manuscripts.” —David Burr Gerrard, author of The Epiphany Machine

“With Ready, Set, Oh, Diane Josefowicz has crafted a riveting narrative of risk and redemption against the backdrop of utterly convincing Sixties turmoil.” —William Giraldi, author of Busy Monsters and Hold The Dark

366 pages, Paperback

Published April 21, 2022

About the author

Diane Josefowicz is a writer, editor, historian, and passionate amateur tap dancer. Her latest novel, The Great Houses of Pill Hill will be published in May 2026 by Soho Press. She is the author of three previous works of fiction: Ready, Set, Oh, a novel published by Flexible Press; L'Air du Temps (1985), a novella published in 2024 by Regal House; and Guardians & Saints: Stories, published in October 2025 by Cornerstone Press. With Jed Z. Buchwald, she has written two histories of French Egyptology: The Riddle of the Rosetta (2020) and The Zodiac of Paris (2010), both published by Princeton University Press.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is fascinating to read a book written by someone younger about your generation, although truly about people slightly older, who were more directly affected by the Vietnam War. The Rhode Island connection was a plus, although I grew up elsewhere and came to RI slightly after the time this book takes place. And, it is not about Providence, where I live, but about life in the unnamed suburbs. Still, enough connections so I can relate. This is a surprisingly good book. I didn’t think so at first, but it grew on me, and by the last page, I felt it in my gut.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as part of LibraryThing’s early reviewer program.

This is a hard book to review. There was a lot going on, and I ended up skimming a lot of the parts about the UFOs.

I liked the writing and all the characters were well developed. The sense of place and time was solid. The pacing could have been better. I laughed a few times, which is good.

I’d read another book by this author.

[Ruth Breindel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love. Confusion. Vietnam. Parents. Children. Pregnancy. Abortion. This book has it all, and tells the story in a most interesting way. The late 1960s were not an easy time, and the people here are in the middle, trying to figure out how to live and navigate the storms. It’s so very true to life and compelling. You will feel for the characters, who are so real. Definitely worth reading.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is good, but the story just seems to drag. There are tons of small incidents that have little impact on the trajectory of the plot or the characters. I could see an argument that it is the totality of these incidents that are crucial to the story. However, I think you could have cut this down by 30% and not diminished the book.

[Susan Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes when I read about life in the 1960’s, I can’t believe I lived through the same decade, and yet the time setting in Ready, Set, Oh rings completely true. And it was a pleasure to read about Providence, where I lived not in the 1960’s from the 1980’s to about 2020, which in so many ways was pleasantly familiar.
Lots of issues are covered: the war, the protests, marriage/love/pregnancy/abortion, mental illness, domestic violence. And the perennial: kids growing up, negotiating their ties and independence from family, and trying to find their own way.
As we follow Tino, who has just left school and thereby become eligible for the draft to Vietnam; and Primrose, who struggles with mental health and comes from a somewhat abusive family, we get a lot of day-by-day thoughts and struggles. They have been involved in a relationship for too long to not take it seriously, and yet neither of them is quite sure they want to marry. We watch them through the backdrop of the turmoil of the 1960’s. Then Primrose gets pregnant, and the reader gets a strong dose of just how limited their choices are in that time. As Josefowicz says, how much choice do we really have? The variables are different in our time 60 years later, but the questions still very real.
Josefowicz did a wonderful job of placing us in the setting. She obviously did a lot of research on the details of Providence and the time. Her writing is flawless. I sometimes wanted just a bit more suspense or oomph in the plot to keep me going, but I did slowly become attached to the characters. The story is marvelously contained; that is, the beginning relates to the end, the progression we are given feels complete, with no loose ends.
A great read!