The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable in the face of hardship and isolation. Mourning a past they can't reclaim, they seek solace in each other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant. Terrified of the unknown and unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses dangers of its own. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust. A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and deep-seated resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love. "In her arresting debut novel, Edan Lepucki conjures a lush, intricate, deeply disturbing vision of the future, then masterfully exploits its dramatic possibilities."-Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad

California: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Lepucki, Edan

United States

Little. Brown and Company

California

Back Bay Books

ADVANCE PRAISE "Why, when I was reading this extraordinary--no other word for it--novella, did I start thinking of Henry James?  Thinking, specifically, of his adventures in human desire, cruelty, and perversity as found in The Turn of the Screw, The Portrait of a Lady,and other works of highly civilized terror.  Lepucki's work is very much of the here and now--funny, smart, sardonic, and fully sexed--but she goes at her subject with the same flaying relentlessness as H. James.  I'll use that word again: Extraordinary.  This little book is the real deal." -Ben Fountain, author of Brief Encounters With Che Guevara  "Edan Lepucki's sly, smart novella is never quite a love story-in fact, rarely has the edict 'only connect' seemed more difficult to enact than among her small tribe of underachievers.  Sex, however, retains its reliable consequences.  And therein lies the beauty and the gut punch of this sneaky, deft book." -Michelle Huneven, author of Blame "If You're Not Like Yet Like Me tells quite a few damn good jokes before it decides to twist your heart apart. Gracefully written, barbed and biting; a touching meditation on the mistakes we make before meeting the ones who truly deserve our love." -Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine  ABOUT THE AUTHOR Edan Lepucki is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.  Her short fiction has been published in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Narrative Magazine, Meridian, and FiveChapters, among other publications, and she is the winner of the 2009 James D. Phelan Award.  She is a staff writer for The Millions and lives in Los Angeles, California, where she was born and raised.  

If You're Not Yet Like Me

Flatmancrooked

Fiction. Joellyn—as judgmental as she is insecure—tells her unborn daughter the story of her courtship with an unemployed, terribly-dressed man named Zachary. The novella is a romantic comedy—if romantic comedies were dark and screwed up and no one got exactly what they wanted.

Contemporary

Nouvella

Washington Post Best Books of 2017 New York Times bestselling author Edan Lepucki's Woman No. 17 is a "winning novel.” — New York Times Book Review High in the Hollywood Hills, writer Lady Daniels has decided to take a break from her husband. Left alone with her children, she’s going to need a hand taking care of her young son if she’s ever going to finish her memoir. In response to a Craigslist ad, S arrives, a magnetic young artist who will live in the secluded guest house out back, care for Lady’s toddler, Devin, and keep a watchful eye on her older, teenage son, Seth. S performs her day job beautifully, quickly drawing the entire family into her orbit, and becoming a confidante for Lady. But in the heat of the summer, S’s connection to Lady’s older son takes a disturbing, and possibly destructive, turn. And as Lady and S move closer to one another, the glossy veneer of Lady’s privileged life begins to crack, threatening to expose old secrets that she has been keeping from her family. Meanwhile, S is protecting secrets of her own, about her real motivation for taking the job. S and Lady are both playing a careful game, and every move they make endangers the things they hold most dear. Darkly comic, twisty and tense, this mesmerizing new novel defies expectation and proves Edan Lepucki to be one of the most talented and exciting voices of her generation.

Woman No. 17: A Novel

Hogarth

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Little,Brown

Who was your mother before she became a mother? In this remarkable collection, New York Times bestselling novelist Edan Lepucki gathers more than sixty original essays and favorite photographs to explore this question. The daughters in Mothers Before are writers and poets, artists and teachers, and the images and stories they share reveal the lives of women in ways that are vulnerable and true, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always moving. Contributors include: Brit Bennett Jennine Capó Crucet Jennifer Egan Angela Garbes Annabeth Gish Alison Roman Lisa See Danzy Senna Dana Spiotta Jia Tolentino

Mothers Before: Stories and Portraits of Our Mothers as We Never Saw Them

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Harry N. Abrams

[Read by Emma Galvin] A gripping and provocative debut novel by a stunning new talent, California imagines a frighteningly realistic near future, in which clashes between mankind's dark nature and irrepressible resilience force us to question how far we will go to protect the ones we love. The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable despite the isolation and hardships they face. Consumed by fear of the future and mourning for a past they can't reclaim, they seek comfort and solace in one other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant.  Terrified of the unknown but unsure of their ability to raise a child alone, Cal and Frida set out for the nearest settlement, a guarded and paranoid community with dark secrets. These people can offer them security, but Cal and Frida soon realize this community poses its own dangers. In this unfamiliar world, where everything and everyone can be perceived as a threat, the couple must quickly decide whom to trust.

Literary

Random House Audio |

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