The Best of Us: A Memoir

In this touching memoir, Maynard (To Die For; At Home in the World) chronicles her second marriage. She beautifully renders the joy of falling in love later in life and the pain of watching her husband die of pancreatic cancer. In her late 50s, after two decades of being single, Maynard met Jim, who she soon felt was the love of her life. On their first date, she opened up to him about problems from her past: in spite of her successful career as a writer, she suffered loneliness when her children grew up and left the house, and she attempted to fill the void by adopting two Ethiopian children. After a tumultuous period in which she tried to readapt to motherhood, she relinquished the children to another family. Jim’s response was to comfort her, and with a sense of joy and an immediate connection, they embarked on travels abroad and got married. They bought a home together and the future looked promising until he was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. Throughout this memoir of love, illness, and grief, Maynard shares how she and Jim coped with his frequent hospital visits, intense surgery, and medications. Maynard’s heartfelt story will resonate with those who have lost loved ones to cancer. Agent: Nicole Tourtelot, DeFiore and Co. (Sept.)