A juicy roman à clef sympathetically imagines two young women on opposite sides of an extramarital affair."It is 1978 and Mel is twenty-five years old"-and like her creator did at that time, she works at a magazine which seems to be Esquire for a jerk who seems to be Gordon Lish, who recklessly edits the stories of a man who seems to be Raymond Carver. Also like Thurm, Mel is about to have her own first story published in the New Yorker at the age of 25, and she will go on to write "stories mostly in the present tense, mostly about the infinite ways, large and small, in which her characters manage to disappoint one another"-a perfect description of the selection of Thurm's stories written between 1979 and 2021 and just published as Pleasure Palace. And after she endures the events that begin on April 14, 1980, when she finds an angry note from another woman in her husband's backpack, Mel knows that "she will, the instant she's good and ready, write the only [novel] she's certain she is capable of writing...she's already confident of the title: The Blackmailer's Guide to Love." It turned out to be Thurm's ninth novel, actually, and in addition to evoking the experience of the betrayed young writer, it also fully imagines that of her nemesis. The plight of Julia Myerson unfolds in chapters that alternate with Mel's. Abused as a child, divorced from an awful man, unable to make progress on her dissertation, Julia is cobbling together a living as a dog walker and a caregiver to an elderly couple. After her longtime therapist commits suicide by jumping off a bridge, she becomes the patient of Charlie Fleischer, a caring psychologist with a sweet face, a warm smile-and a wedding ring. "She's not stupid: she's fully aware that falling for your therapist is a 'thing,' that it's something that happens all the time, every day of the week. But that doesn't render what she feels for Charlie any less meaningful, any less potent, does it?"Beautifully written, both sharp and bighearted, funny and true.

A juicy roman à clef sympathetically imagines two young women on opposite sides of an extramarital affair."It is 1978 and Mel is twenty-five years old"-and like her creator did at that time, she works at a magazine which seems to be Esquire for a jerk who seems to be Gordon Lish, who recklessly edits the stories of a man who seems to be Raymond Carver. Also like Thurm, Mel is about to have her own first story published in the New Yorker at the age of 25, and she will go on to write "stories mostly in the present tense, mostly about the infinite ways, large and small, in which her characters manage to disappoint one another"-a perfect description of the selection of Thurm's stories written between 1979 and 2021 and just published as Pleasure Palace. And after she endures the events that begin on April 14, 1980, when she finds an angry note from another woman in her husband's backpack, Mel knows that "she will, the instant she's good and ready, write the only [novel] she's certain she is capable of writing...she's already confident of the title: The Blackmailer's Guide to Love." It turned out to be Thurm's ninth novel, actually, and in addition to evoking the experience of the betrayed young writer, it also fully imagines that of her nemesis. The plight of Julia Myerson unfolds in chapters that alternate with Mel's. Abused as a child, divorced from an awful man, unable to make progress on her dissertation, Julia is cobbling together a living as a dog walker and a caregiver to an elderly couple. After her longtime therapist commits suicide by jumping off a bridge, she becomes the patient of Charlie Fleischer, a caring psychologist with a sweet face, a warm smile-and a wedding ring. "She's not stupid: she's fully aware that falling for your therapist is a 'thing,' that it's something that happens all the time, every day of the week. But that doesn't render what she feels for Charlie any less meaningful, any less potent, does it?"Beautifully written, both sharp and bighearted, funny and true.

The sparkling latest from Thurm (Today Is Not Your Day) looks back on the heyday of glossy magazine publishing. In 1978, 25-year-old Mel Fleischer is working at an unnamed magazine as an assistant to cranky literary editor Austin Bloch. When Mel isn-t making copies or rejecting submissions from the slush pile, she-s writing and submitting her own short stories, one of which, to her surprise, is accepted by the New Yorker. Mel is married to supportive if not entirely reliable therapist Charlie, and the story of one of his clients, Julia Myerson, a PhD student with a failed marriage and dried-up teaching position, is chronicled in a parallel narrative. When the relationship between Charlie and Julia starts to slip out of professional bounds, it threatens to affect the bond between Mel and Charlie. Those familiar with Thurm-s writing career will notice significant parallels, which gives the novel a bouncy roman à clef charm. While the characters- emotions often run high, such as when Mel meets the New Yorker-s editor (-The words love at first sight, sort of, are what come to her; but really it-s more a profound awe and reverence-), for the most part Thurm mellows them out with a detached distance. This will please those looking to feed their nostalgia for a bygone era. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (May)