AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY “This may be the most epic love story I’ve ever, ever read.”—Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY An intimate and lyrical celebration of great love, great art, and the sacrifices we make for both. For fifty years, Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park. They came alone to get away from each other and together for important discussions and pivotal life moments. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now. Jane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew—their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives—and the parts they didn’t always want to know—the determined young student of Abe’s looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood, and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs. An homage to New York City, to romance, and even to loss, This Is a Love Story tenderly and suspensefully captures deep truths about life and marriage in radiant prose. It is about love that endures despite what life throws at us, or perhaps even because of it. "Just in time for Valentine's Day, Soffer’s unapologetically romantic novel includes many tales that tug at the heartstrings. First and foremost is the long marriage of Abe and Jane, a writer and an artist whose complicated, colorful life together is winding down as she lays dying. While he runs through a litany of their memories together . . . we catch glimpses of other great loves: their son’s connection with his grandmother, Jane’s mind meld with an old friend, Abe’s affinity for the march of words on a page and New Yorkers’ devotion to Central Park. Soffer’s saga goes down like bittersweet chocolate, with a hint of sugar to soften the sharp edge of loss." —Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times (Book of the Week) “[An] undeniably effective love story. . . Ms. Soffer opens the novel to different perspectives to explore these crises, but, touchingly, she always returns to the couple’s resilient connection. Thinking of the craft of storytelling, Abe worries that too much happiness 'writes white' on the page. In this book, though, it’s the joyful moments that stand out.” — The Wall Street Journal "I can't stop thinking about This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer . . . In New York City, but perhaps in any place, there are moments between the hustle and bustle when you look up to the sky and breathe, grateful to just be for another day. Reading This is a Love Story feels a little like that. Love stories may be far from perfect, but how lucky are we?" — USA Today “The lyrical novel plays with perspective, most chapters include what the couple recalled from Abe’s perspective . . . but it also lends full and empathetic points of view to Jane, their son, the young student in love with Abe, and even—between each changed perspective— the voice of Central Park itself and the eclectic cast of other lovers who have called its brambling paths their own. A love letter to the panorama of life—and love—in New York City.” — Oprah Daily "A delightfully New York marriage... A touching romance that's also an ode to the urban oasis where it began." — People “Get ready to have your emotions rocked by this moving family saga about a couple’s enduring love and the son who feels left out of their story.” — TODAY.com “It's an ode to a marriage, but also to Central Park itself.” — Town & Country “ This Is A Love Story is a profound meditation on marriage, motherhood, and artistic ambition . . . An epic poem, a character study, and a sparkling ode to New York. There is no question that Soffer is a gifted writer with an ear for striking language, but she also impresses in her ability to craft a novel that feels authentic. . . The memories Jane and Abe share run the gamut from delicate and romantic to mundane and painful — museum exhibitions and swanky celebrations merge with trips to the grocery store, bleeding, and bedpans. In one sense, their life together feels almost enchanted, but ultimately, it is as ordinary and finite as anyone else’s. In the end, Soffer’s novel reminds us of the beauty that accompanies life’s smallest — and sometimes ugliest — moments. Even bad memories can be good ones in a love story as splendid as this one.” —Lynda Cohen Loigman, Jewish Book Council “Powerful, heartfelt and heartwrenching…this story of true love has it all. . . . Told in various points of view, the radiant tale captures the depths of life, family and love.” — Woman's World “There’s something about multi-character narratives that makes them wildly appealing. Feeling seen, being listened to, isn’t that what we all want? What better gift could an author give her beloved characters than the chance to state their case from their perspective? Jessica Soffer cl
READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY “This may be the most epic love story I’ve ever, ever read.”—Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY An intimate and lyrical celebration of great love, great art, and the sacrifices we make for both. For fifty years, Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park. They came alone to get away from each other and together for important discussions and pivotal life moments. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now. Jane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew—their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives—and the parts they didn’t always want to know—the determined young student of Abe’s looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood, and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs. An homage to New York City, to romance, and even to loss, This Is a Love Story tenderly and suspensefully captures deep truths about life and marriage in radiant prose. It is about love that endures despite what life throws at us, or perhaps even because of it. "Just in time for Valentine's Day, Soffer’s unapologetically romantic novel includes many tales that tug at the heartstrings. First and foremost is the long marriage of Abe and Jane, a writer and an artist whose complicated, colorful life together is winding down as she lays dying. While he runs through a litany of their memories together . . . we catch glimpses of other great loves: their son’s connection with his grandmother, Jane’s mind meld with an old friend, Abe’s affinity for the march of words on a page and New Yorkers’ devotion to Central Park. Soffer’s saga goes down like bittersweet chocolate, with a hint of sugar to soften the sharp edge of loss." —Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times (Book of the Week) “[An] undeniably effective love story. . . Ms. Soffer opens the novel to different perspectives to explore these crises, but, touchingly, she always returns to the couple’s resilient connection. Thinking of the craft of storytelling, Abe worries that too much happiness 'writes white' on the page. In this book, though, it’s the joyful moments that stand out.” — The Wall Street Journal "I can't stop thinking about This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer . . . In New York City, but perhaps in any place, there are moments between the hustle and bustle when you look up to the sky and breathe, grateful to just be for another day. Reading This is a Love Story feels a little like that. Love stories may be far from perfect, but how lucky are we?" — USA Today “The lyrical novel plays with perspective, most chapters include what the couple recalled from Abe’s perspective . . . but it also lends full and empathetic points of view to Jane, their son, the young student in love with Abe, and even—between each changed perspective— the voice of Central Park itself and the eclectic cast of other lovers who have called its brambling paths their own. A love letter to the panorama of life—and love—in New York City.” — Oprah Daily "A delightfully New York marriage... A touching romance that's also an ode to the urban oasis where it began." — People “Get ready to have your emotions rocked by this moving family saga about a couple’s enduring love and the son who feels left out of their story.” — TODAY.com “It's an ode to a marriage, but also to Central Park itself.” — Town & Country “ This Is A Love Story is a profound meditation on marriage, motherhood, and artistic ambition . . . An epic poem, a character study, and a sparkling ode to New York. There is no question that Soffer is a gifted writer with an ear for striking language, but she also impresses in her ability to craft a novel that feels authentic. . . The memories Jane and Abe share run the gamut from delicate and romantic to mundane and painful — museum exhibitions and swanky celebrations merge with trips to the grocery store, bleeding, and bedpans. In one sense, their life together feels almost enchanted, but ultimately, it is as ordinary and finite as anyone else’s. In the end, Soffer’s novel reminds us of the beauty that accompanies life’s smallest — and sometimes ugliest — moments. Even bad memories can be good ones in a love story as splendid as this one.” —Lynda Cohen Loigman, Jewish Book Council “Powerful, heartfelt and heartwrenching…this story of true love has it all. . . . Told in various points of view, the radiant tale captures the depths of life, family and love.” — Woman's World “There’s something about multi-character narratives that makes them wildly appealing. Feeling seen, being listened to, isn’t that what we all want? What better gift could an author give her beloved characters than the chance to state their case from their perspective? Jessica Soffer cl