On My Reading List: Nell Freudenberger

The NewlyWeds, by Nell Freudenberger

Coming May 1, 2012

(Update: my review of this title is up!)

To be honest, Ms. Freudenberger has been on my to-read list ever since her first book, the short story collection Lucky Girls, was published back in 2003. That's a long time not to get around to reading an author, right? I ought to be ashamed of myself.

Anyway, reviews have started pouring in for her newest novel, and I'm finally (finally!) ready to take the plunge. I don't always agree with Michiko Kakutani, but she has a way of making me curious about books. I'm such a lemming, I know. But it was Ron Charles' review that sealed the deal for me. I've respected him ever since I read
his review of Salvage the Bones.* Here's how he did it: "Freudenberger knows Amina as well as Jane Austen knows Emma, and despite its globe-spanning set changes, “The Newlyweds” offers a reading experience redolent of Janeite charms: gentle touches of social satire, subtly drawn characters and dialogue that expresses far more than its polite surface."

I heart Jane Austen, you guys. Comparing anyone to her is a guaranteed way to at least get me to peruse the jacket copy for a good long while, sniffing around to see if the comparison is justified.

For those of you who are interested, the plot, follows Amina Mazad, who meets George Stillman online and eventually relocates from Bangladesh to Rochester, NY to marry him. To quote the jacket copy, it's "a surprising, suspenseful story about the exhilarations—and real-life complications—of getting, and staying, married. It stretches across continents, generations, and plains of emotion."

Count me in, Ms. Freudenberger. And if all goes well, I promise I'll finally get around to reading Lucky Girls.

*Full disclosure: Bloomsbury, which published Salvage, is a client of Macmillan that I work with regularly. In publishing, and in retail for that matter, it is often necessary to sell a book you don't actually like or believe in. But I'm a great fan of Salvage, and I know firsthand what a hard push it was to get it recognized as the achievement it is. Reading Ron Charles' review was rewarding for all of us because it was an incredible validation for a work we were genuinely proud of. Not everyone who eventually agreed to review the book was so candid about their reluctance to do so. More than anything else, it was this refreshing honesty that led me to follow his reviews, and it was his good taste that made me a loyal follower.