Heart Conditions

Thirty-three-year-old publishing neophyte Alice Hammond is adrift. She'd like a new job, and Nick's departure leaves her not simply without something to hold but without an apartment - and pregnant, as well. Alice, orphaned since her teens, is accustomed to tackling crises alone, and she begins searching for a cheap apartment and an abortion clinic.
At the clinic, Alice has a sudden change of heart, resolving to keep her baby and to conceal her pregnancy from family and friends until the last possible moment. Despite morning sickness, Alice manages to work and to pound Manhattan pavement for lodging without arousing the suspicion of those around her. When she finally reveals her condition, Alice's sister, Laura, calls her "naive and reckless," and nosy Aunt Louise asks, "Why do you do these things?" Ironically, encouragement comes only from her new beau and from Gram, Alice's demanding, curmudgeonly grandmother - a former Hollywood starlet who is now her temporary housemate. Gram's residence offers the comfort of concern, though the rent is the challenge of caring for Gram's weak heart, a condition exacerbated by her insatiable craving for hot fudge and ice cream. Now that Alice has found a roof (however temporary) and a new man (or did he find her?), she confronts the birth of Elizabeth and the return of Nick with the same courage and candor she brings to all her trials and triumphs.
Sara Lewis has the rare ability to limn matter-of-fact events with an incandescence that quickly suggests that these are the most important of life's moments. With irreverent wit, a deft prose style that belies its depth, and characters whose behavior surprises even themselves, she delivers an astute, contemporary first novel about love, dependence, and life in the Big City.