Introduction

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“This may be the most epic love story I’ve ever, ever read.”—Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY

An intimate and lyrical celebration of great love, great art, and the sacrifices we make for both

For fifty years, Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park, as starry-eyed young lovers, as frustrated and exhausted parents, as artists watching their careers take flight. They came alone when they needed to get away from each other, and together when they had something important to discuss. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now.

Jane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew—their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives—and the parts they didn’t always want to know—the determined young student of Abe’s looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood, and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs. Told in various points of view, even in conversation with Central Park, these voices weave in and out to paint a portrait as complicated and essential as love itself.

An homage to New York City, to romance, and even to loss, This Is a Love Story tenderly and suspensefully captures deep truths about life and marriage in radiant prose. It is about love that endures despite what life throws at us, or perhaps even because of it.

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Discussion Questions

From the publisher--added by Pauline:

1. “For those who know, for those who feel it,
the Park is more than just a park. It is evocative,
a symbol.” Central Park is so integral
to the story that it becomes a character in
the novel. What did you make of the sections
from the Park’s point of view? Do you
agree that the Park is a symbol? If so, what
do you think it represents?

2. The novel is structured around Abe and
Jane retelling their lifelong love story at
the end of Jane’s life. How does terminal
illness change Abe and Jane’s relationship?
How does it affect the ways they tell their
story—to each other and to themselves?

3. “A mother is always and never alone.”
Discuss Jane’s relationship with motherhood.
What did you think and feel as you
were reading about Jane’s early years as a
mother? How did those early years affect
her relationship with Max, and Max’s relationship
with Jane?

4. How did you view Alice’s character, and her
role in the story of Abe and Jane’s life and
love story? How did her perspective add or
change this love story?

5. What did you make of the narrative structure
of the book, and the different character
viewpoints? Did you have a favorite
character, and if so, why?

6. There is a lyrical cadence to many parts of
the novel. Consider this line: “You remember
our love like a river, a rock, a fountain,
a rainbow. You remember it as an August
evening, the holidays, the first spring day.
You remember it as sparkle, or maybe I do.
Why not? We had our bumps. You remember
it wasn’t always easy, but so often it was.
How lucky are we? Sometimes, over the
top is just enough.” Were there any lines
that stood out to you as being boldly true
when you were reading—about love, art, or
sacrifice?

7. Given the lifelong love between Abe and
Jane, how do you view Max’s approach to
romance and partnership? How do you
think his love story will continue?

8. The novel addresses love on many levels,
including the love of one’s own creative
passions and artistic sensibility. How did
you view Jane’s commitment to pursuing
her art, versus Abe’s commitment to pursuing
his? How did each parent’s ambition
impact the family?

9. Compare your impressions of Abe’s art to
Jane’s. Did you visualize their work while
reading? How does their art impact the
shape of their relationship?

10. Discuss the title This Is a Love Story. How
did your idea of a love story change as you
read the book? After you finished it?

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