“Poignant and hilarious . . . . Irresistible.”
—
Washington Post
One of the most beloved novels from the critically acclaimed novelist Laurie Colwin,
Goodbye Without Leaving
explores a woman’s attempts to reconcile her rock-and-roll past with her significantly more sedate family life as a wife and mother.
As a bored graduate student, Geraldine Coleshares is plucked from her too-tame existence when she is invited to tour as the only white backup singer for Vernon and Ruby Shakely and the Shakettes. The exciting years she spends as a Shakette are a mixed blessing, however, because when she ultimately submits to a conventional life of marriage and children, she finds herself stuck in bittersweet recollections of life on the road. As she grudgingly searches for a path toward happiness that doesn't involve a Day-Glo neon minidress, readers will be enchanted by Geraldine’s attempts to grow up, even though she’s already an adult.
Employing Colwin’s usual dry wit and candor,
is a classic novel from the writer hailed as “ingenious, comic, and spirited” by the
Boston Globe
and “a writer of originality and vision" by the
San Francisco Chronicle
.