Publisher, Recorded Books (August 2006)

NOTE: RETAIL EDITIONS are packaged in attractive, compact cardboard, jewel-case or DVD shrink-wrapped boxes, with full-color art.

Two-time PEN/Faulkner Award nominee Claire Messud is hailed as "a writer of enormous skill and stylistic grace" by Publishers Weekly. This wonderfully crafted comedy of manners was called a "stinging portrait of life among Manhattan's junior glitterati" in a starred review by Kirkus Reviews.

Friends at Brown University, Marina, Danielle, and Julius are still looking to make their marks as they approach their 30s. Marina lives with her celebrated parents on the Upper West Side while trying to complete her book. TV producer Danielle's success is due to the puff pieces she churns out. Freelance critic Julius can barely make ends meet. Into this mix comes Bootie, Marina's college dropout cousin, who is just the catalyst the three friends need to start making significant changes in their lives.

About the Author: Claire Messud has twice been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award, including for her debut novel, When the World Was Steady. She has won the Addison Metcalf Award and the Strauss Living Award and was honored with a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

About the Performer: Suzanne Toren has performed on and Off-Broadway and in regional theaters in works by well-known playwrights from Shakespeare and Moliere to Arthur Miller and Neil Simon. She has appeared on various soap operas and on Law & Order.