The Smart One
  • Published: 15 June 2014
  • ISBN: 9780099563297
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 496
  • RRP: $19.99

The Smart One

Formats & editions
EBook
5 Jun 2014
Paperback
15 Jun 2014
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The author of GIRLS IN WHITE DRESSES turns her gimlet eye upon family relationships. An acutely-observed, off-centre novel about that place you return to when things go staggeringly awry: home

The Coffey siblings are having a rough year.

Claire has broken up with her fiancé and is hiding from her debts. Martha’s in a career crisis and even her therapist is losing patience with her. And Max, the baby of the family in his final year of college, is keeping a life-altering secret. Before long, all three of them have moved back home.

But things aren’t so easy the second time around. Martha and Claire regress to fighting over the shared bathroom while their mother continues to plan Claire’s thwarted wedding (unbeknownst to Claire). But it’s only a matter of time before Max’s secret comes out and changes all of their lives…
  • Published: 15 June 2014
  • ISBN: 9780099563297
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 496
  • RRP: $19.99
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About the author

Jennifer Close

Jennifer Close was born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago. She is a graduate of Boston College and received her MFA in Fiction Writing from the New School in 2005. She worked in New York in magazines for many years. She now lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches creative writing at George Washington University. Her first novel, Girls in White Dresses, was a New York Times Bestseller. Her second novel, The Smart One, was published in 2013.

Also by Jennifer Close

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Girls in White Dresses
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Praise for The Smart One

Witty... A great story about the messiness of modern family life

Marie Claire

I want to be friends with all of the narrators of this addictive novel

Glamour

Wit and vibrant characters make The Smart One an engaging exploration of a thoroughly modern family dynamic

People

A pleasure to read

Daily News

Packed with dry wit and whip-sharp observation… An endearing and eye-wateringly unflinching ode to the messiness of family life

Herald
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