Heart Conditions - Hardcover

Lewis, Sara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151398054 ISBN 13: 9780151398058

Publisher: Harcourt, 1994

Synopsis

Thirty-three-year-old publishing neophyte Alice Hammond is adrift. She'd like a new job, and Nick's departure leaves her not simply without something to hold but without an apartment - and pregnant, as well. Alice, orphaned since her teens, is accustomed to tackling crises alone, and she begins searching for a cheap apartment and an abortion clinic.
At the clinic, Alice has a sudden change of heart, resolving to keep her baby and to conceal her pregnancy from family and friends until the last possible moment. Despite morning sickness, Alice manages to work and to pound Manhattan pavement for lodging without arousing the suspicion of those around her. When she finally reveals her condition, Alice's sister, Laura, calls her "naive and reckless," and nosy Aunt Louise asks, "Why do you do these things?" Ironically, encouragement comes only from her new beau and from Gram, Alice's demanding, curmudgeonly grandmother - a former Hollywood starlet who is now her temporary housemate. Gram's residence offers the comfort of concern, though the rent is the challenge of caring for Gram's weak heart, a condition exacerbated by her insatiable craving for hot fudge and ice cream. Now that Alice has found a roof (however temporary) and a new man (or did he find her?), she confronts the birth of Elizabeth and the return of Nick with the same courage and candor she brings to all her trials and triumphs.
Sara Lewis has the rare ability to limn matter-of-fact events with an incandescence that quickly suggests that these are the most important of life's moments. With irreverent wit, a deft prose style that belies its depth, and characters whose behavior surprises even themselves, she delivers an astute, contemporary first novel about love, dependence, and life in the Big City.

About this title

About the Author:

Sara Lewis has been publishing fiction and non-fiction for over 20 years. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Redbook, Seventeen, Good Housekeeping, Mademoiselle and the Mississippi Review. Her essays and nonfiction have appeared in Ladies' Home Journal, McCall's, FamilyFun, Child and on National Public Radio. Sara lives in San Diego with her husband and two children.

From Publishers Weekly:

Lewis's ( Trying to Smile ) first novel is a graceful, deft and at times wryly comic portrait of a young woman in transition. At 33, Alice Hammond is an editorial assistant at a New York publishing house. Insecure, eager to please, she almost unconsciously allows herself to be used by just about everyone: her editors cajole her into working late and on weekends; her egocentric 89-year-old grandmother seems intent on turning her into an unpaid companion; and her live-in boyfriend Nick, an actor with a promising career, has just dumped her for another woman. As luck and plot would have it, that's when Alice finds she is pregnant with his child. Needing a place to stay, Alice hides her condition and moves in with Gram, who beguiles her with frequent and mesmerizing tales of her own astonishing past. An uneasy rapprochement sets in. When Nick and Dan, an admiring co-worker, turn up simultaneously after the baby is born, Gram proves to be uncannily astute. An ambivalent sister, loathsome cousins, and an editor from hell round out the sharply realistic cast of characters. In spite of lengthy introspection and some tedious dialogue, this remains a brisk and engrossing novel. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harcourt
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0151398054
• ISBN 13: 9780151398058
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 276