Town House

Jack Madigan is, by many accounts, blessed. He can still effortlessly turn a pretty head. And thanks to his legendary rock star father, he lives an enviable existence in a once-glorious, now-crumbling Boston town house with his teenage son, Harlan. But there is one tiny drawback: Jack is an agoraphobe. As long as his dad's admittedly dwindling royalties keep rolling in, Jack's condition isn't a problem. But then the money runs out . . . and all hell breaks loose.

The bank is foreclosing. Jack's ex is threatening to take Harlan to California. And Lucinda, the little girl next door, won't stay out of his kitchen . . . or his life. To save his sanity, Jack's path is clear, albeit impossible—he must outwit the bank's adorably determined real estate agent, win back his house, keep his son at home, and, finally, with Lucinda's help, find a way back to the world outside his door.

"An agoraphobe fights to save his house, his son and his sanity in Cohen's comic, big screen — ready debut. Jack Madigan has sequestered himself for most of his adult life in a decaying Boston townhouse along with his so-uncool-he's-cool son, Harlan; a one-eyed, one-eared cat; and, until she left, his wife Penelope. Jack is content to pursue his raison d'tre of creating the perfect shade of white interior paint, but the outside world comes crashing in: Jack's income — royalties from dead rock star dad Baz (think: Ozzy Osbourne cut down in his prime by a snapping turtle) — dries up; Penelope wants Harlan to move to L.A. and live with her; the plucky, precocious, ankle-biting (really) girl next door keeps showing up in Jack's house; and Dorrie, a lovable dingbat realtor, swoops in to sell the townhouse (valued at $4.5 mil). Love blossoms, neuroses are zapped and an 11th-hour discovery saves the day. If it sounds formulaic, it is, but it's also terrifically written; Cohen's affinity for her nut-job characters is infectious and will keep readers involved as the plot reaches its peachy end." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

“In her first novel, Tish Cohen has written an original portrait of a pathetic man that is at times sardonically comic and humanly poignant. Never straying into sentimentality or veering off course into ludicrousness, Cohen's Jack Madigan is a three-dimensional, albeit anomalous, lost soul of our modern, twisted, fractured, society.” Rex Pickett, author of Sideways

"Hysterically funny, compassionate, and brilliantly observed, Tish Cohen's Town House is a winner!" Karen Quinn, author of The Ivy Chronicles and Wife in the Fast Lane

Tish Cohen is the author of the novels Inside Out Girl and Town House and a novel for teens, Little Black Lies. Having grown up in southern California and Montreal, Cohen currently lives in Toronto.