Susan Coll

“A kooky treasure, rooted in the deeply literary, slightly askew interior world that makes this author’s work so fine.”
Kirkus
“A heart-forward and perfectly comic starting-over novel, REAL LIFE AND OTHER FICTIONS shows that when you stop searching so hard for certain answers to explain your life, different questions can emerge that reveal the past, present, and future in new and slightly surreal ways. Susan Coll’s Cassie is almost every dog-loving woman of a certain age: deeply annoyed, intensely curious, slightly impulsive, and forever hopeful. What an absolute delight.”
Laura Zigman, author of Separation Anxiety and Small World
“Susan Coll is a master of comic fiction, delivering the perfect balance of humor and heart in this deliciously funny book about grief, secrets, and the stories we tell each other and ourselves to survive. Real Life and Other Fictions is the charming, warmhearted novel you’re looking for!”
Jennifer Close, author of Marrying the Ketchups and Girls in White Dresses
“Don’t be fooled by Susan Coll’s delightful new novel. You may think you’re reading a snappy rom com with a wacky heroine and an adorable puppy stranded in a town depicted with Nabokovian humor, but Real Life and Other Fictions slyly leads us to ponder essential questions: How do we make sense of the inexplicable? What damage is wrought by silence? Can we change our lives?”
Lisa Gornick, author of Ana Turns
“Real Life and Other Fictions is that rare jewel of a story: one that both entertains and enlightens, one that makes pandemonium profound. Susan Coll is a literary alchemist—a writer who combines comedy and calamity and turns it into storytelling gold.”
Lynda Cohen Loigman, bestselling author of The Matchmaker’s Gift

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a little about susan

Susan Coll's sophisticated dark comedies (Kirkus) explore the absurdity and angst of contemporary life, finding humor in the quotidian. Her third novel, Acceptance, was made into a television movie starring Joan Cusack and Mae Whitman. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post. She works at Politics and Prose Bookstore and was the president of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation for five years.

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