The Perfect Elizabeth: A Tale of Two Sisters

A spirited exploration of the relationship between two sisters--Liza, a poet in search of a career beyond dog-walking, and Bette, a teacher altogether too absorbed in her dissertation--offers a modern-day look at love, parents, infidelity, and life. A first novel. 10,000 first printing.

Composed of crisp, crumpet-sized snapshots, Schmais's winning romantic comedy tells the story of 30-something New York City sisters Eliza and Bette Ferber, who, when viewed as a composite, become the eponymously perfect Elizabeth. Eliza, otherwise known as Liza, a legal secretary who writes poetry on the side, has grown tired of her monotonous job and the commitment-phobic attitude of her actor boyfriend, Gregor. Meanwhile, academic-minded Bette has immersed herself in her dissertation on comfort foods in the English novel. Bette has been burned once already, and she prefers the nonthreatening world of Barbara Pym to real-life love. Worried that Bette will become like one of the lonely characters in the books she reads, Eliza embarks the duo on a round of singles parties and pilgrimages to a laptop-toting Jewish matchmaker in Queens. Astoundingly, the sisters' wildest dreams come true: Bette meets a fabulous man named Lawrence who likes Jane Austen and hates roller blades, while Liza quits her job and moves in with Gregor. But although though everything Liza thought she wanted is falling into place, she still can't relax. Will walking some dogs, taking up astrology, waitressing in a coffee shop, taking dance classes, going to L.A. or writing a children's story help? Schmais has a tendency to repeat facts as if she doesn't trust the reader to have paid sufficient attention the first time, but that is her only misstep in what is otherwise a breezy yet thoughtful debut. The Ferber sisters have a charming propensity for viewing the world through Masterpiece Theatre-tinted glasses, and readers will enjoy following their attempts to stop shooting for perfection and to learn to accept plain old happiness. Agent, Neeti Madan. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This absorbing first novel by a medical librarian is a contemporary Sense and Sensibility set in Manhattan and Southern California. A comedy of manners complete with happy ending, the book features sisters Liza and Bette, five years apart, who notice that their names are both diminutives of Elizabeth. Thirtyish New Yorker Liza, so far a failure at finding a career, quits her job as a legal secretary when her boss tells her that she must vacuum the office floor. She takes up dog-walking, moves in with a soap opera actor, and conceives a children's book plot that seals her success as a television writer. Meanwhile, she's determined to interest her scholarly older sister in a perfect catchDa kind, handsome, wealthy architect from the West Coast. The course of love rarely runs smoothly, even with seemingly perfect boyfriends. The author cleverly satirizes the cold rationality of Sixties radicals, the ruthlessness of type-A supervisors, and the luxuriously vapid lifestyle of Bette as a Hollywood homemaker. Even readers who have nothing in common with the sisters will get plenty of laughs. Recommended for most public libraries.DJoyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Freehold, N.J.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.