To use an oft quoted baseball analogy, Andrea Kayne Kaufman, has hit a home run clear out of the park with this brilliant, compelling first novel. It’s my favorite book to date of books read in 2012 and definitely in the “must read” category of personal recommendations. This gifted author paints vivid word pictures further elevated by the imagined background music of the incomparable Van Morrison. Main protagonists Gloria Zimmerman and Henry Young are instantly likeable and the supporting cast of characters is equally believable and well drawn. Gloria is an academic superstar plagued with out-of-control and unacknowledged Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder which hinders human contact and relationships. Henry is a lost soul mourning for his beloved, recently deceased mother, dominated by an overbearing, disapproving father. Of course, they are destined to help each other face and overcome their demons while experiencing the unbridled joy realistic optimism can bring to lives that were bereft of hope. “Let’s enjoy it while we can.”

This is an exceptionally well crafted story, literate, charming and with a richness and emotional depth unexpected in a first book.