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A Novel
by Jessica Guerrieri
This masterful blend of book club and literary women's fiction offers a frank rebuttal to Wine Mom culture and is perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty.
Leah O'Connor is torn between her current existence and the allure of a phantom life that can no longer be hers.
Swept off her feet by the gentle charm of Lucas O'Connor, Leah's unexpected pregnancy changes the course of her carefree and nomadic existence. Over a decade and three children later, Leah is unraveling. She resents the world in which her artistic aspirations have been sidelined by the overwhelming demands of motherhood, and the ever-present rift between herself and her mother-in-law, Christine, is best dulled by increasingly fuller glasses of wine.
Christine represents a model of selfless motherhood that Leah can neither achieve nor accept. To heighten the strain, Lucas's business venture, a trendy restaurant that honors his mother, has taken all his attention, which places the domestic demands squarely on Leah's shoulders. Seeking an ally in her sweet sister-in-law Amy, Leah shares a secret that, if made known to the wider family, could disrupt the curated ecosystems that keep the O'Connors connected.
As Leah dances with the devil while descending further into darkness, her behavior becomes more erratic and further alienates her from both Lucas and the wider family. Leah's drinking threatens the welfare of her family, prompting Amy to turn to Christine for support. A duel for loyalty ensues. When the inevitable waves come crashing down, it's the O'Connor women who give Leah a lifeline: the truth of what they've all endured. But Leah alone must uncover the villain of her own story, learn how to ask for help, and decide if the family she has rejected will be her salvation or ultimate undoing.
"Debut author Guerrieri draws upon personal experience for this nuanced story of a woman in crisis. Leah's gradual slide into alcoholism is sensitively portrayed, and her path to sobriety, with its ups and downs, is authentic. Leah is not always a likable character, but as readers follow her story, they'll root for her recovery. Readers of Marian Keyes will be moved by this family drama." ―Booklist
"This powerful debut is sure to resonate with readers who like complex family stories." ―Library Journal
"A brave confrontation of the distance between who we were and who we are, explored with razor-sharp honesty. The relational complexities are written with breathtaking precision, and the intimate experience of Leah's journey into marriage and motherhood is book club gold. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is an urgent call to drop all pretense, stop numbing, and let the fullness of life come flooding in. The complicated but real loyalties within this family remind us that we are not alone." ―Sarah Damoff, bestselling author of The Bright Years
"A powerfully written page turner about impossible choices, motherhood and creativity, and the devastating results of using alcohol to fill the void. I read it in a single day, riveted to Leah's inexorable descent into addiction. A delicate and unblinking study of addiction and recovery, but most of all, an intense portrayal of the ways we lose ourselves to motherhood and how to find the impossible balance. A beautiful book!" ―Barbara O'Neal, bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids
This information about Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Originally from the Bay Area, Jessica Guerrieri lives in Davis, California, with her husband and three daughters. Jessica has a background teaching special education but left the field to pursue a career in writing. Her debut novel, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, won the Maurice Prize for Fiction from her alma mater, UC Davis. With over a decade of sobriety, Jessica is a fierce advocate for addiction recovery. Connect with her online at jessicaguerrieri.net; Instagram: jessicaguerrieriauthor; X: @witandspitup; TikTok: @jessstayssober; Threads: @jessicaguerrieriauthor
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