This Is Not My Beautiful Life

One morning, when Fedden is nine-months pregnant and living with her parents while her house is renovated, her life is completely upended. Federal agents turn up at the South Florida mansion and arrest Fedden’s mother and stepfather on felony charges relating to penny stocks and wire fraud. Fedden, whose places a high priority on caring for her troubled family, details with unfailing honesty and humor the joys and meltdowns of the next several years, as she devolves into a stressed-out mother with postpartum depression. Meanwhile, her parents await trial dates. Motherhood for Fedden is harrowing rather than blissful, as she deals with a needy baby, a husband who’s often on the road, and her struggles with self-worth. She finds it hard to value herself as a parent and woman despite having fought her way from dropping out of high school to becoming a writer and teacher with a graduate degree. Fedden’s mother and stepfather, on the other hand, are straight out of a Carl Hiaasen novel: AARP-age criminals who take pride in having a couch that was used in a porn film, shop at Costco, and are friends with gigolos, Russian mobsters, and singer Michael Bolton, among others. When Fedden finally establishes boundaries with her parents and gives her mental health overdue attention, she gains back much of her self that she’d lost, proving that even when one is overwhelmed by the wackiest of surroundings, change and happiness are possible. Agent: Terra Chalberg, Chalberg & Sussman. (June)