You’ve Been So Lucky Already

This lyrical memoir follows Black (I Knew You’d Be Lovely) as she stumbles into an uncertain and puzzling adult world. After her father, a brilliant mathematician, died of throat cancer, Black struggled in her job search in Manhattan and was barely able to get out of bed in the morning. At one point she was mugged in the entryway to her apartment building, and for months afterward she barely left her building and subsisted on “instant oatmeal, spicy canned chili, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.” There is no single epiphany that turns her life in a new direction, instead moments build on each other: she survived a plane ride through a lightning storm, landed a job as a magazine proofreader, adopted a dachshund named Zoë, found a home away from the city in Dutchess County, north of New York City, and found love with a writer she refers to as “The Last of the Last Great Men.” One day in her late 20s, she woke up and realized, “something has shifted and it seems likely that I’m going to make it in the world after all.” Just as the pieces of Black’s life came together, a mysterious, seemingly undiagnosable disease threatens to unravel it. Wonderfully poetic with wry observations, Black’s writing both amazes and charms. Agent: Lisa Bankoff, Bankoff Collaborative. [em](Oct.) [/em]

Correction: A previous version of this review misstated the title of the author's previous book.