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"Giorgio's love of language shines in this poignant and thoughtful examination of the nature of relationships, the universal need for companionship, and the meaning of feminism in today's world." -Sublime Book Review
On the morning of her 55th birthday, Audrey takes stock of her life and finds it lacking. While she's done well, she's missing something important - a mate. She is also rocked by the 2016 election and wonders if it's possible to be a feminist in the current political environment. In a fit of desperation, she ponders adopting a cat…but comes home with an iguana named Newt instead. Newt is destined to change Audrey's life.
Next door, Frank, a widow, lives with his six parakeets. He develops a crush on Audrey, but is at a loss as to how to approach her. He's shocked when his first wife, who he divorced, shows up on his doorstep to offer help, but he's gobsmacked when his second wife, who died three years prior, shows up as a ghost to be his dating coach.
Birds, a lizard, a man, a woman…what happens is magic.
About the author
Kathie Giorgio is a critically acclaimed author of four novels – The Home for Wayward Clocks (2011), Learning to Tell (A Life)Time (2013), Rise from the River (2015), and In Grace’s Time (2017); two story collections, Enlarged Hearts (2012) and Oddities and Endings; The Collected Stories of Kathie Giorgio (2016); a collection of essays, Today’s Moment of Happiness Despite the News; A Year of Spontaneous Essays (2018); two poetry chapbooks, True Light Falls in Many Forms (2016) and When You Finally Said No (2019), and a full-length collection of poetry, No Matter Which Way You Look, There Is More to See (2020).
She lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with her husband, Michael Giorgio, (a mystery writer); her daughter, Olivia, who is writing her first novel; a neurotic dog named after Ursula Le Guin; a fat cat named Edgar Allen Paw, and a tiny cat named Muse. Her life is graced with her three older kids, Christopher, Andy, and Katie, and one dynamite granddaughter, Maya Mae.