Synopses & Reviews
The author of the "ethereal and brutally realistic" (The New York Times) Tuesday Nights in 1980 returns with a highly anticipated new novel exploring what it means to be a woman in her many forms — daughter, friend, partner, lover, and mother.
Emily writes for women's catalogs for a living, but she'd rather be writing books. She has a handsome photographer boyfriend, but she actively wonders how and when they will eventually hurt each other. Her best work friend Megan is her lifeline, until Megan is abruptly laid off. When her world is further upended by an unplanned pregnancy, Emily is forced to make tough decisions that will change her life forever.
What will she sacrifice from her old life to make room for a new one? What fires will she be forced to extinguish, and which will keep burning? Old Flame is a story about the essential — and often existential — choices that define a woman's life at every level, from which dress to wear to when to have a child to how to be in the world.
Review
"Prentiss has a gift for crafting complex characters, and her insight on the mixed emotions around adoption and unexpected pregnancy ring true throughout. With plenty of charm and drama, Prentiss keeps readers turning the pages." — Publishers Weekly
Review
"[W]restles with the binaries of art versus motherhood, chosen family versus found family, and social expectation versus authenticity...Prentiss' prose is energetic and inventive." — Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Prentiss' writing is lively and dynamic...[T]he intimate distress, yearning, grief, and laughter she evokes makes the novel seem like her protagonist's memoir, resulting in a tale that grants readers a sense of connection, hope, and comfort." — Booklist
About the Author
Molly Prentiss is the author of Tuesday Nights in 1980, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and shortlisted for the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine in France. Her writing has been translated into multiple languages. She lives in Red Hook, New York, with her husband and daughter. You can find her at Molly-Prentiss.com or on Instagram @MollyPrentiss.