The Adults A Novel

In her ruefully funny and wickedly perceptive debut novel, Alison Espach deftly dissects matters of the heart and captures the lives of children and adults as they come to terms with life, death, and love. At the center of this affluent suburban universe where neighbors commit suicide and high school teachers have affairs with students, is Emily Vidal, a smart and sassy teenager. Among the cast of idiosyncratic characters is Emily's father, whose fiftieth birthday party has the neighbors descending upon the Vidal's backyard; her mother, who has orchestrated the elaborate party even though she and her husband are getting a divorce; and an assortment of eccentric neighbors, high school teachers, and teenagers who teem with anxiety and sexuality and an unbridled desire to be noticed, and ultimately loved. An irresistible chronicle of a modern young woman's struggle to grow up,The Adults lays bare-in perfect pitch-a world where an adult and a child can so dangerously be mistaken for the same exact thing.

Alison Espach is a graduate of the Washington University in St. Louis MFA program.  Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, Five Chapters, Glamour and other magazines. She grew up in Connecticut and now teaches creative writing in New York.