All Together Now

For readers of Alison Espach and Emma Straub, brimming with joy, honesty, humor, and heart, All Together Now charts the extraordinary life story and great loves of the relatively ordinary Hazel Stein—as told by every version of herself she ever has been and ever will be.

Every decade, give or take a few years, Hazel Stein wakes up on a party bus, complete with neon lighting, argyle stain-resistant carpet, and a stripper pole, to find seven of her past and future selves waiting for her and eager to talk. There's Hazel, age eight, making paper airplanes out of napkins; eighteen, with catastrophic bangs and the insecurities to match; twenty-eight, an undeniable knockout ready to take on New York City; thirty-nine, flush with the responsibility and exhaustion of new motherhood; forty-nine, terrifyingly bald (the other Hazels can barely look her in the eye); fifty-seven, whose ring finger is suddenly, disturbingly bare; sixty-eight, the obvious victim of overzealous injectables; and seventy-seven, with wiry white hair, a gash on her forehead, and a threadbare t-shirt.

Together, they tell themselves the story of one woman's life and her three great loves; from an unforgettable one-night stand at the turn of the millennium, to friendships that span decades and continents, from the tenderness and exhaustion of new motherhood, to moments of seismic, reality-warping grief. Together, they recount how a single, relatively ordinary life can add up to an unimaginable bounty, and what we owe to all the people we used to be (and somehow, still are).

Hilarious, exuberant, and wise in turn, All Together Now is a dazzling exploration of life in all its richness, triumphs, and tragedies; a rallying cry to love with your whole heart, no matter the risks, and a celebration of the unexpected paths that lead us to inevitably, gratefully, find ourselves exactly where we were always meant to be.