Mrs. Fletcher - Hardcover

PRAISE FOR MRS. FLETCHER:

"The sinews of Perrotta's fiction, rather, are the tensions within and between characters, tensions that he steadily and artfully amplifies until the reader becomes possessed by curiosity about how they'll be resolved ... "Mrs. Fletcher" is lit up by flashes of acute observation."
--The New Yorker

"Perrotta's eye for contemporary mores and social details remains razor-sharp ... More spot-on satire with heart and soul from a uniquely gifted writer."
--Kirkus Reviews

"From the thrill of learning of its existence, to the feverish turning of pages, to the contemplative afterglow that comes from having finished: there's nothing like a new Tom Perrotta novel. Mrs. Fletcher is all you dream it will be: hilarious, provocative (a little too), relatable, and every moment a joy ride."
--Maria Semple, bestselling author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette and Today Will Be Different

"Tom Perrotta has always been a smart, fearless writer, a wet-your-pants-funny satirist who will in the very next sentence ambush you with genuine emotion. Buckle your seat belt and surrender your dignity, because Mrs. Fletcher is a romp."
--Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls

"At times morbidly funny and, at others, grim, "Mrs. Fletcher" signals a return to familiar territory for Mr. Perrotta -- sex, school and suburbia ... While "Mrs. Fletcher" may sound, from a plot summary, like an R-rated comedy or the outline for a raunchy Judd Apatow movie, it is more melancholy than many of his earlier books. Sex and pornography often serve as shorthand for characters' loneliness and their search for self-worth."
--The New York Times

"Satisfying, wise and deeply appealing, flying by in a day or two of nonstop immersion, and in Eve's character it has true insight into the strangeness of all those anonymous American suburbs -- the simultaneous comfort and loneliness of a generic place, a common life."
--The Chicago Tribune

"[A] fantastic tease ... [Perrotta] knows how to capture the hilarious contradictions of teenagers."
--The Washington Post

"Perrotta has been called the "Steinbeck of suburbia" and an "American Chekhov," but with Mrs. Fletcher, he's become the Jane Austen of 21st century sexual mores ... [Mrs. Fletcher is] a delicious, tragicomic and finally forgiving take on the mistakes we modern people can't seem to stop making. Mrs. Fletcher is a delight."
--Newsday

"Mrs. Fletcher is an intelligent novel that weaves together all the old issues about relationships along with contemporary issues of identity ... Perrotta expertly explores sexual identity, gender, pornography, and sex. This is a novel about overcoming ignorance. It urges readers to take advantage of opportunities for self-analysis and enlightenment. We must listen to each other's stories."
--Los Angeles Review of Books

"Raunchy, hilarious, and unexpectedly sweet ... [Perrotta's] latest might just be his best -- it's a stunning and audacious book, and Perrotta never lets his characters take the easy way out. Uncompromisingly obscene but somehow still kind-hearted, Mrs. Fletcher is one for the ages."
--NPR

New York Times bestseller!
From the bestselling author of The Leftovers and Little Children comes a penetrating and hilarious new novel about sex, love, and identity on the frontlines of America’s culture wars.

Eve Fletcher is trying to figure out what comes next. A forty-six-year-old divorcee whose beloved only child has just left for college, Eve is struggling to adjust to her empty nest when one night her phone lights up with a text message. Sent from an anonymous number, the mysterious sender tells Eve, “U R my MILF!” Over the months that follow, that message comes to obsess Eve. While leading her all-too-placid life—serving as Executive Director of the local senior center by day and taking a community college course on Gender and Society at night—Eve can’t curtail her own interest in a porn website called MILFateria.com, which features the erotic exploits of ordinary, middle-aged women like herself. Before long, Eve’s online fixations begin to spill over into real life, revealing new romantic possibilities that threaten to upend her quiet suburban existence.

Meanwhile, miles away at the state college, Eve’s son Brendan—a jock and aspiring frat boy—discovers that his new campus isn’t nearly as welcoming to his hard-partying lifestyle as he had imagined. Only a few weeks into his freshman year, Brendan is floundering in a college environment that challenges his white-dude privilege and shames him for his outmoded, chauvinistic ideas of sex. As the New England autumn turns cold, both mother and son find themselves enmeshed in morally fraught situations that come to a head on one fateful November night.

Sharp, witty, and provocative, Mrs. Fletcher is a timeless examination of sexuality, identity, parenthood, and the big clarifying mistakes people can make when they’re no longer sure of who they are or where they belong.