Most Popular Books by Elizabeth Benedict

A New York Times Notable Book: “The most engrossing novel I’ve come across in a long time.” —Newsweek Fortysomething Sophy Chase has just begun her new, lighthearted, romantically adventurous life in New York City. But it comes to a screeching halt when she learns that her ex-husband—or technically, her almost-ex-husband, who is also an ex-CIA agent—has been found dead, on the island off of Massachusetts where she left him just months before. Lured back to New England by feelings she thought she’d left behind, Sophy must navigate her grown stepdaughters; a former lover who is now a celebrity lawyer; the mystery of her husband’s death—and her own darkest impulses—in a “novel about death, divorce, exes, lovers and surrogate children on and off a snooty East Coast island. . . . Page-turning suspense that doesn’t skimp on characterization or intelligence” (Publishers Weekly). “Benedict captures finely tuned calibrations of feeling. . . . [She] seems to understand humor’s real function . . . to get us through the day.” —Newsday

DIVDIVFinalist for the National Book Award: A sassy, cynical professional woman’s notions of love—and its apparent impossibility—are thrown into question by a man who challenges everything she thought she knew/divDIV Though a talented young immigration lawyer, Lexi Steiner is in trouble. The legal organization where she works in Los Angeles may soon go under. Her habit of engaging in daring flings with charming—and sometimes not-so-charming—men is losing its luster. And her most intimate relationship of all, the one with her college best friend, Nell, is about to be threatened by two men: Nell’s serious new lover, and Lexi’s: a divorced investigative reporter who does the unthinkable and falls in love with her./divDIV A fast-paced, sexy, and very serious novel about love and ambition, about bicoastal best friends and enduring lovers, Slow Dancing is a captivating look at lives and hearts in transition, moving forward one tentative step at a time. /divDIV/div/div

The author has explored sensuality in her own novels with great success. So, in The Joy of Writing Sex, she deftly covers all the issues head-on--from dealing with "internal consorts" to writing about sex in the age of AIDS. Accompanying her instruction are spirited opinions by John Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, Carol Shields, Russell Banks, and many other prestigious writers.

This smart psychological thriller about a therapist who marries the wrong woman is “a lot of wicked fun” (Alan Cheuse, NPR’s All Things Considered). When Eric Lavender meets the attorney Colleen O’Brien Golden, his position as one of Manhattan’s chic psychotherapists and most eligible bachelors suddenly loses its appeal. The sexy, stylish Colleen lures him to live with her and her young daughter in the exclusive suburb of Scarsdale. To his amazement, Eric is besotted and soon settles into the unexpected bliss of marriage and domesticity with their new baby and his loving stepdaughter. He even becomes a local hero when the police turn to him for help in resolving a hostage crisis. But Eric’s transformation comes to an abrupt halt when the police knock on his door again—this time with handcuffs. He and Colleen are caught up in an explosive conflict of interest involving their clients. When Eric discovers that Colleen has gone to extreme lengths to conceal her secret past, she retaliates with horrendous charges against him. Eric must uncover the truth before his children, his career, and his freedom are taken from him forever. As she did in her bestseller Almost, Elizabeth Benedict navigates the turbulent waters of love, law, psychology, and ethics with biting wit and penetrating insight. The Practice of Deceit is a razor-sharp novel of marriage—and divorce—gone awry.

In What My Mother Gave Me, women look at the relationships between mothers and daughters through a new lens: a daughter’s story of a gift from her mother that has touched her to the bone and served as a model, a metaphor, or a touchstone in her own life. The contributors of these thirty-one original pieces include Pulitzer Prize winners, perennial bestselling novelists, and celebrated broadcast journalists. Whether a gift was meant to keep a daughter warm, put a roof over her head, instruct her in the ways of womanhood, encourage her talents, or just remind her of a mother’s love, each story gets to the heart of a relationship. Rita Dove remembers the box of nail polish that inspired her to paint her nails in the wild stripes and polka dots she wears to this day. Lisa See writes about the gift of writing from her mother, Carolyn See. Cecilia Muñoz remembers both the wok her mother gave her and a lifetime of home-cooked family meals. Judith Hillman Paterson revisits the year of sobriety her mother bequeathed to her when Paterson was nine, the year before her mother died of alcoholism. Abigail Pogrebin writes about her middle-aged bat mitzvah, for which her mother provided flowers after a lifetime of guilt for skipping her daughter’s religious education. Margo Jefferson writes about her mother’s gold dress from the posh department store where they could finally shop as black women. Collectively, the pieces have a force that feels as elemental as the tides: outpourings of lightness and darkness; joy and grief; mother love and daughter love; mother love and daughter rage. In these stirring words we find that every gift, ?no matter how modest, tells the story of a powerful bond. As Elizabeth Benedict points out in her introduction, “whether we are mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, or cherished friends, we may not know for quite some time which presents will matter the most."

This celebrated coming-of-age novel moves from Manhattan during the early days of Mad Men to the swinging, chaotic 1970s: A sensitive girl burdened with her mother’s drinking and long string of husbands becomes a special young woman when her best friend’s family opens her eyes to art Esme Singer is a resilient girl from Los Angeles, new to Manhattan, who takes better care of her beautiful, alcoholic mother than her mother does of her. A former fashion model and extra in the movies, her mother attracts a series of husbands and boyfriends as Esme watches in fascination and sometimes horror. Esme’s father comes and goes, forever riding the wave of the latest get-rich-quick scheme. As Esme becomes a teenager, she turns to her friend Leah’s cultured, exotic family for inspiration and solace—especially Leah’s father, a well-known photographer who encourages Esme to cultivate her gifts. Might art—and a favorite teacher—become the answer to some of her troubles? TheBeginner’s Book of Dreams is an insightful, sophisticated, sometimes wickedly funny, always sharp-eyed portrayal of a young woman inventing and discovering her own independent spirit.

By turns funny and somber but above all provocative, Elizabeth Benedict''s Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own is a most unconventional memoir. With wisdom, self-effacing wit, and the story-telling skills of a seasoned novelist, she brings to life her cancer diagnosis and committed hypochondria. As she discovers multiplying lumps in her armpit, she describes her initial terror, interspersed with moments of self-mocking levity as she indulges in "natural remedies," among them chanting Tibetan mantras, drinking shots of wheat grass, and finding medicinal properties in chocolate babka. She tracks the progression of her illness from muddled diagnosis to debilitating treatment as she gathers sustenance from her family and an assortment of urbane, ironic friends, including her fearless "cancer guru." In brief, explosive chapters with startling titles - "Was it the Krazy Glue?" and "Not Everything Scares the Shit out of Me" - Benedict investigates existential questions: Is there a cancer personality? Can trauma be passed on generationally? Can cancer be stripped of its warlike metaphors? How do doctors'' own fears influence their comments to patients? Is there a gendered response to illness? Why isn''t illness one of literature''s great subjects? And delving into her own history, she wonders if having had children would have changed her life as a writer and hypochondriac. Post diagnosis, Benedict asks, "Which fear is worse: the fear of knowing or the reality of knowing? (164)" Throughout, Benedict''s humor, wisdom, and warmth jacket her fears, which are personal, political and ultimately global, when the world is pitched into a pandemic. Amid weighty concerns and her all-consuming obsession with illness, her story is filled with suspense, secrets, and even the unexpected solace of silence.

“[A] splendid collection . . . By turns wry, tender, pointed, and laugh-out-loud funny.” —Publishers Weekly “Untangles the many truths about hair, and the lives we lead underneath it.” —Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bébé Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life. Ask a whole bunch of women about their hair, and you could get a history of the world. Surprising, insightful, frequently funny, and always forthright, the essays in Me, My Hair, and I are reflections and revelations about every aspect of women’s lives from family, race, religion, and motherhood to culture, health, politics, and sexuality. They take place in African American kitchens, at Hindu Bengali weddings, and inside Hasidic Jewish homes. The conversation is intimate and global at once. Layered into these reminiscences are tributes to influences throughout history: Jackie Kennedy, Lena Horne, Farrah Fawcett, the Grateful Dead, and Botticelli’s Venus. The long and the short of it is that our hair is our glory—and our nemesis, our history, our self-esteem, our joy, our mortality. Every woman knows that many things in life matter more than hair, but few bring as much pleasure as a really great hairdo.

Six novels in one volume by today’s most outstanding female writers—includes The Magician’s Assistant, Those Who Save Us, and more. From the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Commonwealth and Bel Canto, to the multiple award-winning author of This Must Be the Place, this collection gathers a half-dozen top-notch literary talents in a treasure trove for fiction lovers. Included: Almost by Elizabeth Benedict chronicles the attempt of writer Sophy Chase to come to terms with the death of her almost ex-husband—who may have committed suicide on the New England resort island where she left him just months before. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum follows Trudy, a professor of German history, as she investigates her mother’s past in WWII Germany, combining a passionate, doomed love story; a vivid evocation of life during the war; and a poignant mother/daughter drama. The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss is a heartwarming story of a young woman with the rare talent of “gentling” wild horses, and the unexpected and profound connections between people and animals. The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones takes readers inside the hidden world of elite cuisine in modern China, through the story of an American food writer in Beijing who discovers that her late husband may have been leading a double life. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell is a gothic, intricate tale of family secrets, lost lives, and the freedom brought by truth. The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett tells the story of the death of a secretive magician—and how it sets in motion his partner’s journey of self-discovery.

Individual case records of maladjusted rural children as treated by the visiting teachers in the program of the National committee on visiting teachers, and a description of visiting teacher technique in rural districts. cf. Foreword.

En route to Istanbul to finish a film, filmmaker Kate Lurie and her new husband, Eli MacKenzie, find their journey hampered by the appearance of Lida, a stunning Russian with whom Eli had an affair fifteen years earlier.

Edited and with a contribution by Elizabeth Benedict, thirty of today''s brightest literary lights turn their attention to the question of mentorship and influence. For Denis Johnson, it was Leonard Gardner''s cult favorite Fat City; for Jonathan Safran Foer, it was an encounter with Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai; Mary Gordon''s mentors were two Barnard professors, writers Elizabeth Hardwick and Janice Thaddeus, whose lessons could not have been more different. In Mentors, Muses & Monsters, edited and with a contribution by Elizabeth Benedict, author of the National Book Award finalist Slow Dancing, thirty of today''s literary stars discuss the people, events, and books that have transformed their lives. When Joyce Carol Oates describes her public-rivalry-turned-wary-professional-acquaintanceship with Donald Barthelme, we are privy to the sight of one of today''s most important writers being directly affected by another influential writer. When Sigrid Nunez reveals what it was like to be Susan Sontag''s protégé, we get a glimpse into the private life and working philosophy of a formidable public intellectual. And when Jane Smiley describes her first year at the Iowa Writers'' Workshop in 1974, she offers an intimate portrait of a literary milieu of enduring significance for American literature. Rich, thought-provoking, and often impassioned, these pieces illuminate not only the anxiety but the necessity of influence—and also the treasures it yields.

Even though President Trump claims that his relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is good, there has been a lack of progress toward the denuclearization Washington wants. At the June 2018 summit in Singapore, the U.S. and North Korea committed themselves to having better relations while Pyongyang committed to working towards “complete denuclearization.” If there is a lack of progress, that means there is still a threat that North Korea could use these weapons on their neighbor, South Korea. This research includes a literature review of educational journals, documents and a cost/benefit analysis comparing two missile defense systems. The literature reviews the history of the relationship between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States followed by a less detailed look at other relationships with Russia, China, and Japan. Additionally, this study examines how South Korea thinks about their current nuclear deterrent strategy and whether an upgraded missile defense system should be considered. Specifically, this study compares the current Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) with Israel’s current Iron Dome system. Results of the study indicate in order to guarantee their own security, South Korea should acquire a missile defense system capable of intercepting missiles launched from North Korea.

Providing teachers structured time to learn collaboratively in professional development efforts serves two important functions in schools implementing Response to Intervention frameworks. For one, structured collaboration provides teachers with a mechanism for situating knowledge and skills for integrating effective evidence-based practices into tiered instruction. Second, this type of coordinated work supports teams of general and special education teachers in aligning instruction across the tiers of instructional support. This study examines the discussion of upper elementary school general and special education teachers (n = 7) within the context of literacy related lesson study collaborative planning sessions. Constructivist grounded theory methods were employed to investigate how participation in this professional development innovation impacted teachers'' knowledge of effective literacy practices.