The Life Room

 "[A] suspenseful tale ... Bialosky explores the idea that needy people are often the most powerful and destabilizing. We're not sure why Eleanor wants to have an affair ... but we believe she does--and with a kind of reckless illogic that would do Tolstoy proud."--The New York Times Eleanor Cahn, a professor of literature, wife of a preeminent surgeon, and devoted mother of two, is in Paris to present a paper on Anna Karenina. A chance encounter brings to the surface passions she has suppressed for years. As The Life Room unfolds, we learn the secrets of her erotic past: ethereal William, her high school boyfriend; her role as muse to troubled painter Adam; her marriage to loyal, steady Michael. On her return to New York, Eleanor's charged attraction to another man takes on a life of its own, threatening to destroy everything she has.Jill Bialosky has created a fresh, piercingly real heroine who must choose between responsibility and desire. "Bialosky creates a character brave enough to look back and try to regenerate all the emotional intensity of her younger self. Eleanor Cahn's journey is not just a reawakening, but a reclamation of a vital part of herself long buried under domestic minutiae and the travails of balancing family and career."--The Boston Globe "[Eleanor's] resolute self-destruction, with love the prime weapon, gives this novel the feel of an oncoming train.--The Los Angeles Times A Chicago Tribune Favorite Book of 2007 jillbialosky.com  JILL BIALOSKY is the author of the acclaimed novel House Under Snow and three collections of poetry, The End of Desire, Subterranean, and Intruder. She is an editor at W. W. Norton & Company and lives in New York City.

PRAISE FOR THE LIFE ROOM"Bialosky creates a character brave enough to look back and try to regenerate all the emotional intensity of her younger self. Eleanor Cahn's journey is not just a reawakening, but a reclamation of a vital part of herself long buried under domestic minutiae and the travails of balancing family and career."—The Boston Globe  "Suspenseful . . . with a kind of reckless illogic that would do Tolstoy proud."—The New York Times 

Eleanor Cahn, a professor of literature, wife of a preeminent surgeon, and devoted mother of two, is in Paris to present a paper on Anna Karenina. A chance encounter brings to the surface passions she has suppressed for years. As The Life Room unfolds, we learn the secrets of her erotic past: ethereal William, her high school boyfriend; her role as muse to troubled painter Adam; her marriage to loyal, steady Michael. On her return to New York, Eleanor's charged attraction to another man takes on a life of its own, threatening to destroy everything she has. Jill Bialosky has created a fresh, piercingly real heroine who must choose between responsibility and desire. 

Eleanor Cahn, a professor of literature, wife of a preeminent surgeon, and devoted mother of two, is in Paris to present a paper on Anna Karenina. A chance encounter brings to the surface passions she has suppressed for years. As The Life Room unfolds, we learn the secrets of her erotic past: ethereal William, her high school boyfriend; her role as muse to troubled painter Adam; her marriage to loyal, steady Michael. On her return to New York, Eleanor's charged attraction to another man takes on a life of its own, threatening to destroy everything she has.  Jill Bialosky has created a fresh, piercingly real heroine who must choose between responsibility and desire. 

"Bialosky creates a character brave enough to look back and try to regenerate all the emotional intensity of her younger self. Eleanor Cahn's journey is not just a reawakening, but a reclamation of a vital part of herself long buried under domestic minutiae and the travails of balancing family and career."--The Boston Globe  Eleanor Cahn, a professor of literature, wife of a preeminent surgeon, and devoted mother of two, is in Paris to present a paper on Anna Karenina. A chance encounter brings to the surface passions she has suppressed for years. As The Life Room unfolds, we learn the secrets of her erotic past: ethereal William, her high school boyfriend; her role as muse to troubled painter Adam; her marriage to loyal, steady Michael. On her return to New York, Eleanor's charged attraction to another man takes on a life of its own, threatening to destroy everything she has.  Jill Bialosky has created a fresh, piercingly real heroine who must choose between responsibility and desire. "[Eleanor's] resolute self-destruction, with love the prime weapon, gives this novel the feel of an oncoming train.--The Los Angeles Times

Eleanor Cahn is a professor of literature, the wife of a successful surgeon, and a devoted mother. But on a trip to Paris to present a paper on Anna Karenina, Eleanor re-connects with Stephen—a childhood friend, and more. The encounter ignites a discontent that she struggles alternately to suppress and to explore, and reawakens memories of her hidden erotic past: with alluring, elusive Stephen; with ethereal William, her high school boyfriend; with married, egotistical Adam, the painter who initiated her into the intimacies of the "life room," where the artists model sometimes becomes muse; and with loyal, steady Michael, her husband. On her return to New York, Eleanor and Stephens charged attraction takes on a life of its own and threatens to destroy everything she has.

Jill Bialosky has created a fresh, piercingly real heroine caught, like Tolstoys immortal Anna Karenina, between desire and responsibility.

JILL BIALOSKY is the author of the acclaimed novel House Under Snow and two collections of poetry, The End of Desire and Subterranean. Her poems and essays have appeared in the New Yorker and O, The Oprah Magazine. She is an editor at W. W. Norton & Company and lives in New York City.