Prospect Park West

The New York Times bestselling author of Run Catch Kiss turns her satirical eye to the deeply twisted lives of urban mothers in upwardly mobile Park Slope, Brooklyn.

• Tales from the chic, new, urban frontier: Prospect Park West dishes on the “Brooklyn Bourgeois Breeder” phenomenon— the mass migration of yuppies from manhattan to Brooklyn—as well as on the gentrification of New York City and the truth about sex after parenthood.

• Desperate housewives: Four Brooklyn mothers’ life crises collide during a hot summer in Park Slope. Melora, an Oscar-winning actress, becomes a kleptomaniac. Sexually frustrated wife Rebecca begins an affair with a local celebrity. Neurotic Karen begins “real estate stalking,” spying on the homes of others, and the lonely stay-at-home mom and “hasbian” (former lesbian) Lizzie develops a dangerously intense friendship with another mother. As their lives threaten to spiral out of control, each woman must struggle to keep her sanity…and her play dates.

• Bestselling author of the New York City zeitgeist: Amy Sohn is a real-life Carrie Bradshaw who has written about sex, marriage, and motherhood for New York magazine in her columns “Naked City,” “mating,” and “Breeding.” She also wrote two hugely successful tie-in books for Sex and the City: The Movie.

"Former New York magazine 'Mating' columnist Sohn zeroes in on the more-fertile-than-thou crowd in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood in her vinegary latest (after My Old Man). Like a Grand Hotel for the yuppie set, the lives of moody, angry, dissatisfied mommies intersect on the playgrounds and co-ops of their overpriced hood. Among them, Lizzie, whose lesbian proclivities mask her loneliness; Rebecca, whose libidoless spouse prefers his role as dad over husband; Karen, a social-climbing conniver; and Melora, a former Manhattanite whose psychiatric maladies are as pathetic as they are numerous. The gals in this comedy of bad manners are burned out, bitchy and beyond salvation as they maneuver to be noticed and loved. Meanwhile, there's more name-dropping than in an edition of Page Six, and while Sohn is obviously intent on skewering the annoying urban mommy stereotype, 400 pages is a stretch for material that's been blogged to death. There are moments of brutal honesty, but they're far too few to allow readers to muster an ounce of sympathy for a crew of caricatures so broadly drawn and sadly conceived. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Amy Sohn is the author of the novels Prospect Park West, My Old Man and Run Catch Kiss. She has also written for New York, The New York Times, The Nation, and Harper's Bazaar. She has written television pilots for such networks as HBO, Fox, and ABC. She lives in Brooklyn. Visit her at www.AmySohn.com.

BROOKLYN'S FAMED PARK SLOPE neighborhood has it all: sprawling, majestic Prospect Park; acclaimed public schools; historic brownstones; and progressive values. Among bohemian bourgeois breeders, claiming a stake in Park Slope has become a competitive sport.

In the park, at the coffee shops, and on the playgrounds of the neighborhood, four women's lives come together during one long, hot Brooklyn summer. Melora Leigh, a two-time Oscar-winning actress, frustrated with her career and the pressures of raising her adopted toddler, feels the seductive pull of kleptomania; Rebecca Rose, missing the robust sex life of her pre-motherhood days, begins a dangerous flirtation with a handsome neighborhood celebrity; Lizzie O'Donnell, a former lesbian (or hasbian), wonders why she is still drawn to women in spite of her sexy husband and adorable baby; and Karen Bryan Shapiro finds herself consumed by two powerful obsessions: her four-year-old son's well-being and snagging the ultimate three-bedroom apartment in a wellmaintained, P.S. 321-zoned co-op building. As the women's paths intertwine (and sometimes collide), each must struggle to keep her man, her sanity...and her playdates.

From the perennially hot author and columnist Amy Sohn comes a smart, sexy, satirical peek into the bedrooms and hearts of Prospect Park West.

Amy Sohn is the author of the novel Run Catch Kiss and the "Naked City" column at New York magazine. She has also written for The Nation, Harper's Bazaar, Premiere, and Playboy. She grew up in Brooklyn, where she still lives today.