"I was excited
about Lisa Tucker's new novel,
The
Cure for Modern Life,
because I loved her last novel,
Once Upon a Day. This
is her best novel yet, with
captivating characters, a
progressively intricate plot and
unexpected twists that grabbed
me and did not let me go. The
hip, funny and cynical
protagonist, Matthew Connelly,
who works for a pharmaceutical
company and undergoes a
transformation after meeting a
homeless 10-year-old boy, is so
fully realized that I wondered
who Tucker had been talking to,
to get such insight into the
male mind. As Matthew's
definition of happiness and
success is upended, the reader
confronts serious questions
about what the good life is and
how we decide what is right and
wrong. The story is so
cinematic, it's impossible not
to be casting a film version
while you read it. I think this
is a novel that will appeal to
everyone from book club members
to those who read just one book
a year."
—Rob
Dougherty, Clinton Book Shop
(Galley Talk,
Publishers Weekly)
To Amelia, who has
dedicated her life to medical ethics, Matthew's job as a
high-powered pharmaceutical executive has turned him into a
heartless person who doesn't care about anything but money.
Now they're kept in balance only by Matthew's best and oldest
friend, Ben, a rising science superstar -- and Amelia's new
boyfriend.
That balance begins to
crumble one night when, coming home to his upscale Philadelphia
loft, Matthew finds himself on a desolate bridge face-to-face
with a boy screaming for help. Homeless for most of his life,
ten-year-old Danny is as streetwise as he is world-weary, and
his desperation to save his three-year-old sister means he will
do whatever it takes to get Matthew's help. What follows is an
escalating game of one-upmanship between Matthew, Amelia, and
Danny, as all three players struggle to defend what is most
important to them -- and are ultimately forced to reconsider
what they truly want.
The Cure for Modern Life is about what it means in the
twenty-first century to be responsible, to care about other
people, and to do the right thing.