MAX’S PICK

A novel for all us parentified children, written by Freud’s great-granddaughter. Somehow simultaneously hilarious and disturbing and punishing and hopeful. So read it! (Or avoid it altogether…) -MA

With her daughter in the throes of drug addiction, a mother takes over the care of her granddaughterand is transformed by the bond that forms between themin this warm, sharp-witted, and psychologically acute story of familial love by a praised British novelist.

Ruth is a woman who believes in and despairs of the curative power of love. Her daughter, Eleanor, who is addicted to drugs, has just had a baby, Lily. Ruth adjusts herself in ways large and small to give to Eleanor what she thinks she may neednourishment, distance, affectionbut all her gifts fall short. After someone dies of an overdose in Eleanor’s apartment, Ruth hands her daughter an envelope of cash and takes Lily home with her, and Lily, as she grows, proves a compensation for all of Ruth’s past defeats and disappointment. Love without fear is a new feeling for her, almost unrecognizable. Will it last?

Love and Missed is a whip-smart, incisive, and mordantly witty novel about love’s gains and missteps. British writer Susie Boyt’s seventh novel, and the first to be published in the United States, is a triumph.

Paperback | 208 pages | 5.80″ x 8.51″