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Book Cover for: Edie Richter is Not Alone, Rebecca Handler

Edie Richter is Not Alone

Rebecca Handler

Critic Reviews

Great

Based on 5 reviews on

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Longlist:Center for Fiction First Novel Prize - (2021)

"Oh how I love this book. I finished Edie Richter Is Not Alone in one sitting, then reread it immediately. Hilariously heartbreakingly honest on every page, Rebecca Handler's novel is that rare thing: a perfect book." --Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less


Funny, acerbic Edie Richter is moving with her husband from San Francisco to Perth, Australia. She leaves behind a sister and mother still mourning the recent death of her father. Before the move, Edie and her husband were content, if socially awkward―given her disinclination for small talk.


In Perth, Edie finds herself in a remarkably isolated yet verdant corner of the world, but Edie has a secret: she committed an unthinkable act that she can barely admit to herself. In some ways, the landscape mirrors her own complicated inner life, and rather than escaping her past, Edie is increasingly forced to confront what she's done.


Everybody, from the wildlife to her new neighbors, is keen to engage, and Edie does her best to start fresh. But her relationship with her husband is fraying, and the beautiful memories of her father are heartbreaking, and impossible to stop. Something, in the end, has to give.


Written in clean spare prose that is nevertheless brimming with the richness and wry humor of the protagonist's observations and idiosyncrasies, Edie Richter is Not Alone is Rebecca Handler's debut novel. It is both deeply shocking and entirely quotidian: a story about a woman's visceral confrontation with the fundamental meaning of humanity.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Unnamed Press
  • Publish Date: Oct 4th, 2022
  • Pages: 208
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 5.20in - 7.80in - 0.50in - 0.45lb
  • EAN: 9781951213459
  • Categories: Family Life - Marriage & DivorceLiteraryWomen

About the Author

Handler, Rebecca: - Rebecca Handler is a writer who lives and works in San Francisco. Rebecca's stories have been published and awarded in several anthologies. Edie Richter is Not Alone is her debut novel. See more at www.onewomanparty.com.

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"Edie's increasingly unpredictable behavior reaches its crescendo with a heartbreaking climax, and along the way, the author explores not merely Edie's guilt, but the complicated feelings over her loss. This quick, engrossing novel brings laughter and tears."--Publisher's Weekly
"Handler's Edie joins the ranks of unforgettably eccentric, intelligent women protagonists, such as the titular character in Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Eleanor Flood in Maria Semple's Today Will Be Different." --Booklist, Starred Review
"A tragicomic exploration of the collateral damage of Alzheimer's disease... Handler gets it right from the title on out. Edie is definitely not alone. Her plight is one many readers will respond to deeply and perhaps even be soothed by... Profound yet often quite funny, keenly observed, and deeply affecting." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review