Get a sneak peek at Sullivan’s Friends and Strangers, including a cover reveal and first excerpt.
The novels roots are autobiographical.
The babys mother, Catherine, and I grew close.
Credit: Michael Lionstar
I was fresh off a year abroad, and had returned to college feeling like Id outgrown the place.
Catherine was adjusting to motherhood and a life far from her friends.
EW can exclusively reveal the cover forFriends and Strangersbelow.
Knopf
it was love at first sight, Sullivan raves of the design.
Its just so evocative and gorgeous.
Unpublished book jackets are like baby names.
If you share them too early, youre likely to hear lots of opinions.
But I cant help but show this one off, and everyone who sees it swoons.
Friends and Strangerspublishes June 23.
Check out the cover below, as well as an exclusive excerpt.
The novel isavailable for pre-order.
Excerpt fromFriends and Strangers, by J. Courtney Sullivan
Elisabeth
She awakened to silence.
Nobody up at this hour besides mothers and insomniacs.
The answer as familiar as the question: she would go out a window.
That settled, Elisabeth kissed the top of his head.
In the living room, her eyes adjusted.
Elisabeth reached under the sofa and pulled out the ugly pillow with the stupid name.
She sat down, laying the baby across her padded lap.
She lifted her T-shirt, unhooked her bra.
He latched on and began to suck, an easy rhythm that had seemed impossible four months ago.
The entire time, Elisabeth kept falling asleep, waking when her head slammed against the wall behind her.
Straight to the BK Mamas page, as usual.
Elisabeth scrolled until she came to the place where shed left off before bed.
The page buzzed with questions from mothers at all hours.
They kept one another company there.
There was a post from a woman looking for tips on flying cross-country with a toddler.
Someone was asking about the flu shot.
Someone else needed a unicorn birthday cake on short notice.
Now they were her survival.
They were learning an evolving language, one you spoke for a week or two before everything changed again.
What else to do with that accrued knowledge but share it.
Someone with a child six weeks older than hers was a prophet.
She switched sides after ten minutes.
A new post popped up.
Slightly off topic, but .
last month, as usual, my husband was a no-show on a visit to my parents in Minneapolis.
While I was there, I ran into my college boyfriend, recently divorced.
Now were texting at all hours.
Is this an emotional affair?
Am I supposed to stop?
Because dammit, its FUN, and I think I deserve some fun.
They stood on a white sand beach, palm trees in the distance.
Their honeymoon, maybe.
The secrets they divulged to one another amazed her.
The group was marked Private, but that only meant that you had to ask to join.
Yet it felt like a safe space.
At once intimate and anonymous.
There were also those who stood up for any nannys behavior, no matter how terrible.
Im not acknowledging it unless she tells me directly, Nomi said.
I think she assumes youll see it on Facebook and then ask her
about it, Elisabeth said.
Well, I wont.
Ten others said to cut it off immediately.
They were the posts Elisabeth told Andrew about the next morning, even though she knew he didnt care.
Half the pleasure of the group was talking about it with someone in real life.
She kept revisiting their last lunch in her mind.
Nomi once swore shed never live in Brooklyn.
But it was another two years before she and Brian moved.
They bought a three-bedroom in a new-build high-rise with an elevator and a swimming pool.
Elisabeth had only ever lived in dusty walk-ups, with crown moldings and creaky wooden floors.
Places that were listed as havingcharacterandcharm,if not central air or laundry in the building.
It was impossible for either of them to be jealous of the other.
Am I making a huge mistake?
Yes, Nomi said.
That is not a supportive answer.
Im still mad at you for leaving.
I always said I was going to.
But youd been saying it for so long, I stopped believing you at some point.
Im your friend,Andrew said.
Jesus, youre not the new kid at middle school,she chided herself.Go over and say hello.
They were grown women.
They had to be nice, at least to her face.
But she couldnt do it.
Some mix of self-consciousness and fatigue stopped her.
That, and the fear that she wouldnt like them anyway.
**
The baby drank himself drunk and closed his eyes, his head an anchor seeking the bottom.
In the hours before he woke again, she lay in bed unable to sleep.
She knew she should find a way, that the day would be hectic.
Elisabeth had gone to see Violet in the first place with no intention of returning week after week.
That is so not how therapy works,Nomi said.
Postpartum depression is real, Violet said.
I know it is, but no, Elisabeth said.
Ive always been like this.
She was only addressing it now because of Gil.
Violet said to remember that thoughts are vapor.
She said to read Eckhart Tolle.
How is this fair?
Violet yawned a lot, which hurt Elisabeths feelings.
This was how Elisabeth could be certain she had slept.
It was five oclock in the morning.
In a moment, the baby would wake.
She checked BK Mamas on her phone while she waited.
The replies came swift, a resounding chorus ofnos.
Heather thanked them, then admitted that she was feeling guilty.
Guilt was their common bond.
Stop overthinking it,someone wrote.Multivariate regression analysis on the impact of that Oreo is a dangerous path.
Elisabeth considered this, amused.
From the book: FRIENDS AND STRANGERS by J. Courtney Sullivan.
Copyright 2020 by J. Courtney Sullivan.
