Maud Malone Devlin, 8.5 months pregnant, has two big problems-well, three if you count the size of her belly. Her birthing class instructor, the very definition of blond bombshell, is a fraud intent on selling Maud a "painless birth". And that's just the beginning of Maud's discomfort. On the eve of their first child's birth, she discovers her husband Jack has his eyes-and hands-set on the instructor when he should be focused on Maud's meditation exercises.
Despite Jack's pleas, Maud holes up with the baby at her friend Johanna's, until her post-partum insomnia drives Maud further upstate to the care of Doctor Dad. When her insomnia gives rise to a lucrative business, Maud is fortuitously presented with an opportunity to take revenge against her rival. Maud deals with the husband-stealing birthing instructor, but now what about the husband?
PRAISE:
"This loving wacky first novel whose messages about love, motherhood and the human condition in general are delivered with a light hand and deft touch." -Library Journal (starred review)
"A rambunctious, down-to-earth sense of humor...bound to hold interest for many of those currently having babies late while juggling work, friendship, family, marriage, and disillusion." -New York Times Book Review
"An author with a wicked wit and something of the sensibility of Mary McCarthy. If her novel were nothing but funny, it would have been well worth reading; that it is much more makes it compelling." -Chicago Tribune
"[T]rue vividness...Maud's spirit is winning and her predicaments are real... considerable beguilement...innocent and spunky...perceptive sensibility. -The Los Angeles Times
"Lively and fun to read. Part satire on upwardly mobile urbanites, part gentle family comedy...very clever.-Booklist
"Lawrence writes with-how's this for an old-fashioned word- humanity. She is most compelling, comfortable and convincing about family." -People Magazine
"Lawrence at her satiric best... wry and witty sensibilities...irreverent...a light-hearted modern marriage tale." -Publishers Weekly
"[A] gift for funny language...Resist the urge to give Maud a good shake and you'll be rewarded by a smartass voice that will keep you laughing. Her confusion is a vehicle for some of the funniest writing about growing up Catholic that I've read in a while." -Ms. Magazine
"The characters are eccentric yet believable...A comic tartness unique to itself...its message about the imperfections, insanities, and joys of all man/woman and parent/child relationships is delightfully clear." -Woman
"A very wise, funny and irreverent novel. Insightful prose and wry humor propel the novel to its hilarious denouement when Maud finds that revenge, landing whole and uncut in her lap, is not just sweet, but 'downright ambrosial.' So, too, will you find this book." -Pittsburgh Press
"Lawrence tells her story with a sympathetic, wryly comic eye. She's especially aware of the richness and oddity of family life...she makes even the heavily worked terrain of Catholic girlhood fresh, particular and funny. As an entertaining discourse on the three M's-marriage, motherhood, and maturity, Maud Gone is an admirable success. " -Philadelphia Enquirer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kathleen Rockwell Lawrence is the author of three books - her two novels Maud Gone and The Last Room in Manhattan and The Boys I Didn't Kiss, a collection of her essays, several of which appeared in The New York Times, Ms., Glamour, Salon, Vogue, and The Antioch Review, among others. She is grateful for her residencies at Yaddo, MacDowell, Bread Loaf, and Ragdale. She has taught at Hunter College High School and The City University of New York. Lawrence is a member of PEN America, The Authors Guild, and The Writers Room, where she is currently working
