The Female Persuasion

New York Times Notable Book of 2018

One of People Magazine’s Top Ten Books of 2018

One of USA Today’s Top Ten Books of 2018

“Ultra-readable.” (Vogue)

“Equal parts cotton candy and red meat, in the best way.” (People)

“Wolitzer’s social commentary can be as funny as it is queasily on target.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“Wolitzer is one of those rare writers who creates droll and entertaining novels of ideas.” (Fresh Air, NPR)

From The New York Times best-selling author of The Interestings comes an electric novel not just about who we want to be with but who we want to be.

To be admired by someone we admire – we all yearn for this: the private, electrifying pleasure of being singled out by someone of esteem. But sometimes it can also mean entry to a new kind of life, a bigger world.

Greer Kadetsky is a shy college freshman when she meets the woman she hopes will change her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant at 63, has been a central pillar of the women’s movement for decades, a figure who inspires others to influence the world. Upon hearing Faith speak for the first time, Greer – madly in love with her boyfriend, Cory, but still full of longing for an ambition that she can’t quite place – feels her inner world light up. And then, astonishingly, Faith invites Greer to make something out of that sense of purpose, leading Greer down the most exciting path of her life as it winds toward and away from her meant-to-be love story with Cory and the future she’d always imagined.

Charming and wise, knowing and witty, Meg Wolitzer delivers a novel about power and influence, ego and loyalty, womanhood and ambition. At its heart, The Female Persuasion is about the flame we all believe is flickering inside of us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time. It’s a story about the people who guide and the people who follow (and how those roles evolve over time), and the desire within all of us to be pulled into the light.