Her life turned upside down by a grim diagnosis, a small-town Maine
woman sets about writing a How To life manual for her handsome yet
hapless husband in a novel Elinor Lipman (Good Riddance, On Turpentine
Lane) calls smart, funny-quirky, and so very satisfying.
Annie and her devoted but comically incompetent childhood sweetheart Sam
are the owners and operators of Annie's, a gourmet sandwich shop, home
to the legendary Paul Bunyan Special Sandwich--their nutritionally
challenged continual source of income and marital harmony and local
fame.
But into their mostly charmed marriage comes the scary medical diagnosis
for Annie--and the overwhelming challenge of finding a way to help Sam
go on without her. Annie decides to leave Sam step-by-step instructions
for a future without her, and considers her own replacement in his heart
and their bed.Her best-laid plans grind to a halt with the unexpected
appearance of Ursula, Annie's Manhattan diva of a mother, who brings her
own brand of chaos and disruption into their lives.
Minus Me is a poignant and hilarious novel about the bonds of
marriage, the burdens of maternal love, and the courage to face
mortality, with an ending readers will cherish (Caroline Leavitt,
Pictures of You).
Medwed's lovely novel of marriage, motherhood, love and loss is so real
that at times it feels like non-fiction. It's a timely reminder that in
the worst of times, we sometimes rediscover the very best of ourselves.
--Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of A Spark of
Light.
