by Tom Perrotta
First published 2017
Eve Fletcher stares at her phone late one night. The anonymous text reads "U r my MILF!" She's forty-six, recently divorced, and her only son Brendan just left for college. The message should mean nothing. She should delete it and move on. Instead, it lodges in her mind and refuses to leave. Eve starts reaching out to new people. She enrolls in a Gender Studies class at the community college. She gets closer to a younger colleague at work. But the text keeps pulling her toward an online world that could destroy her quiet suburban routine. Meanwhile, Brendan discovers that college women don't respond to his high school act. His frat-boy swagger falls flat. His grades suffer. He develops confusing feelings for a softball player who champions social justice causes. Both mother and son drift into situations that blur right and wrong. As November arrives in New England, their separate struggles collide in one decisive night that changes everything.
Genres: contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water
Setting: New England, Suburban
Period: November
309 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: sexual-content