Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe by Jennie Shortridge

From the Publisher

"An accomplished and superior novelist" (Statesman Journal) delivers a bittersweet book about a woman's midlife crisis that asks: How does a good girl know when to finally let herself be bad?

When she learns that her college sweetheart husband has been seeing another woman, Mira Serafino's perfect world is shattered and she wants no one, least of all her big Italian family, to know. She heads north—with no destination and little money— stopping only when her car breaks down in Seattle. She takes a job at the offbeat Coffee Shop at the Center of the Universe, where she'll experience a terrifying but invigorating freedom, and meet someone she'll come to love: the new Mira.

Karen White

Flawless storytelling make[s] this a book to remember. (Karen White, author of The Memory of Water)

Garth Stein

Smart, funny, and endearing...one terrific read! (Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain)

Diana Loevy

[A] wry and funny portrait. (Diana Loevy, author of The Book)

Publishers Weekly

An award-winning high school science teacher who juggles marriage, motherhood and massive traditional Italian meals, Mira Serafino is called Miss Control Freak by her best friend Lannie, an eccentric musician who owns a yarn and guitar shop in their close-knit community of Pacifica, Ore. Shortridge (Eating Heaven) flashes back to Mira's difficult childhood (where she adopted the role of "Saint Mira, absorber of all family pain") as her marriage hits a major snag, sending Mira into a process of self-examination. Mira's Type A-ness comes through clearly, and secondaries-including a difficult daughter, incommunicado brother and a father who is "about as sensitive as a Mack truck"-deepen her dilemmas. (May)

Product Details