In Literacy and Longing in L.A., hailed as
“the most delightful read of the year” by Liz Smith inthe New York Post, authors Jennifer Kaufman and
Karen Mack captivated readers with a brilliantly imagined
first novel. Now Kaufman and Mack return, introducing a
character with a unique voice you’ll never forget: Cassie
Shaw, an irrepressible young woman who reinvents
herself—with unexpected consequences—in a funny, wise, and
utterly original novel about friendship, love, wildlife, and
other forces of nature.
In the wilds of Topanga
Canyon, Cassie is right at home—with the call of birds, the
sound of wind in the trees, the harmony of a world without
people. But everywhere else, life is a little harder for
Cassie. Her mother believes in Big Foot. Her wisecracking
pet parrot is a drama queen. And at the age of thirty, newly
single and without a college degree, Cassie desperately
needs a decent paycheck. Which is why, against all her
principles, she lies on her résumé for an office job at an
elite university—and then finds herself employed in academia
by two professors who are as rare as the birds she
covets.
One of her new bosses is Professor William
Conner, a sexy, handsome, cheerfully aristocratic expert in
animal behavior. Soon, under Conner’s charismatic tutelage,
Cassie carefully begins her personal transformation while
meeting the kind of people who don’t flock to wildlife
preserves—from impossibly brilliant academics to adorably
spoiled college boys. But her future—and unlikely new
career—is teetering on one unbearable untruth. And Cassie’s
masquerade is about to come undone…in a chain of events that
will transform her life—and the lives of those around
her—forever.
A novel for late bloomers of every
exotic shade and stripe,A Version of the
Truth is pure entertainment—at once hilarious and wry,
lyrical and uplifting.