Woman No. 17, Edan Lepucki
Woman No. 17, Edan Lepucki
7 Rating(s)
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
Club: $11.25

Woman No. 17

Author: Edan Lepucki

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell, Phoebe Strole

Unabridged: 11 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/09/2017


Synopsis

“A juice box of suburban satire laced with Alfred Hitchcock” (The Washington Post)—a novel of art, motherhood, and the intensity of female friendships, set in the posh hills above Los Angeles, from the New York Times bestselling author of California
 
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • San Francisco Chronicle • New York Observer • Huffington Post • The Millions • Nylon • Vulture • Bustle

High in the Hollywood Hills, Lady Daniels has separated from her husband. She’s going to need help with their toddler son if she’s going to finish the memoir she can’t stand writing. From a Craigslist ad, she hires S, a magnetic young artist, to live in the guesthouse behind the pool, take care of Lady’s young son, and keep an eye on her older, teenage one. S performs her job beautifully and quickly draws the entire family into her orbit—but she isn’t exactly who she seems. As Lady and S grow closer, old secrets and new betrayals come to light, jeopardizing what they hold most dear.
 
Praise for Woman No. 17
 
“Woman No. 17 is propulsive and moving, and considers vital questions with empathy and sly intelligence. . . . A winning novel. ”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Lepucki’s exploration of personal relationships takes on an increasingly noirish tone: Much like Chekhov’s gun, a swimming pool introduced early in the book takes on the shadows of a floating body long before the reader realizes this might be a possibility.”—Elle
 
“Edan Lepucki’s Woman No. 17 is part family melodrama, part twisty self-reflection. . . . Very funny.”—GQ
 
“While Woman No. 17 does possess all the trappings of a frothy page-turner—stormy arguments, showy melodrama, and (oops!) an affair—there are some quiet, serious moments, too. It’s the intersection between the two that makes this read both scintillating and thought-provoking.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Reviews

Goodreads review by Always on January 31, 2020

Lady has decided to hire a nanny for her son, Devin, after she separates from her husband, so that she can spend more of her time writing her book. After publishing her first book about raising her nonverbal son Seth, she was writing a follow up, one that was much more of a memoir. S is a recent gra......more

Goodreads review by Deanna on April 29, 2017

My reviews can also be seen at: [URL not allowed] 3.5 stars When I first came across this book it was the cover that caught my eye. I really liked it. And after reading the description, I was very intrigued. Lady Daniels lives in the Hollywood Hill. Recently separated, she's look......more

Goodreads review by Esil on May 10, 2017

I hate writing negative reviews, but here goes... I am generally happy to read novels featuring unlikeable characters. Eileen is a case in point. But, yikes, Woman No. 17 really didn't work for me. Told from the alternating perspectives of Lady and Esther, this felt like an endless portrait of petty......more

Goodreads review by Marie on March 31, 2017

This book had me cringing, yet I was intrigued and felt compelled to read to the end. The setting is Los Angeles and a great many themes are explored throughout this novel. The two main characters, are at such transitional points in their life, making rash irresponsible decisions. These two women gr......more

Goodreads review by Edan on February 09, 2017

Thoroughly brilliant! Sui generis!......more


Quotes

“A story packed with such wicked and wickedly funny confessions about a host of hallowed subjects. . . . Lepucki’s witty lines arrive as dependably as afternoon playtime, but her reflection on motherhood and women’s friendships is deadly serious. . . .The disclosures that Lepucki engineers in this smart novel are sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious, always irresistible.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post 

“A sexy family drama featuring dual protagonists as well as sex, art, mothers and mutism.”—Los Angeles Daily News

“A dark and clever tale about motherhood and the complexity of friendships.”—SFWeekly

Woman No. 17 reads like a Hollywood Hills film noir . . . the dialogue is sharp, the fragrance of the wilting air palpable.”—Seattle Times

“With Woman No. 17, Lepucki has succeeded in revealing a simple truth: mothers are human—flawed and difficult and impossible to hold at arm’s length.”—Paste

“Female friendships, artists, twisted secrets, motherhood, and the posh and drama-filled hills of Los Angeles — if that doesn't sound like a novel your mom will literally gobble up in a day or two, we give up. This risqué and mesmerizing read by New York Times bestselling author Edan Lepucki will make your mom race through the addictive pages of Woman No. 17 in no time (and we wouldn't be surprised if she rereads it again and again).”—PopSugar

“Tensions are expertly spun by Edan Lepucki through the heat of the end of summer in LA. . . . Woman No. 17 starts and finishes in the here and now, and shows up the fragility of the facade of civilization that we all in the Western world, be it in American or Europe, like to think we hold up.”—Electric Literature

“[A] Hollywood noir about the electric bonds between women . . . this one is a safe bet for beach season.”—The Week

“Lepucki’s brisk style and arresting characterizations make for a compelling portrait of womanhood in the present moment, right down to its intriguing integration of social media.”Publishers Weekly

“An acidly inquisitive domestic drama set in the Hollywood Hills and anchored to depthless questions of identity, family, and art. . . . Lepucki’s arch and provocative tale of elaborate and privileged dysfunction poses sharp questions about inheritance, self-expression, and love.”Booklist

“In Woman No. 17, Lepucki has crafted an intricate, gripping story of people behaving very badly. You will want to race to the end to see what happens, but don’t cheat yourself. This book deserves to be savored –gorgeously written, darkly comic, smart and thrilling.”—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The NestWoman No. 17 fizzes with references to contemporary culture and sparks with larger, timeless questions: Where is the line between performance and identity? What separates life from art? And can we ever escape the gravitational pull of our parents? Edan Lepucki shows herself to be a sharp-eyed chronicler of our modern world.”—Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You


Awards

  • Northern California Book Reviewers Award (previously BABRA)