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A deeply moving novel about a woman who thought she never wanted to be a mother—and the many ways that life can surprise us
“An ode to possibility” — The Washington Post
Rose Napolitano is fighting with her husband, Luke, about prenatal vitamins. She promised she'd take them, but didn't. He promised before they got married that he'd never want children, but now he's changed his mind. Their marriage has come to rest on this one question: Can Rose find it in herself to become a mother? Rose is a successful professor and academic. She's never wanted to have a child. The fight ends, and with it their marriage.
But then, Rose has a fight with Luke about the vitamins--again. This time the fight goes slightly differently, and so does Rose's future as she grapples with whether she can indeed give up the one thing she thought she knew about herself. Can she reimagine her life in a completely new way? That reimagining plays out again and again in each of Rose's nine lives, just as it does for each of us as we grow into adulthood. What are the consequences of our biggest choices? How would life change if we let go of our preconceived ideas of ourselves and became someone completely new? Rose Napolitano's experience of choosing and then choosing again shows us in an utterly compelling way what it means, literally, to reinvent a life and, sometimes, become a different kind of woman than we ever imagined.
A stunning novel about love, loss, betrayal, divorce, death, a woman's career and her identity, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is about finding one's way into a future that wasn't the future one planned, and the ways that fate intercedes when we least expect it.
Genre: Literary Fiction
“An ode to possibility” — The Washington Post
Rose Napolitano is fighting with her husband, Luke, about prenatal vitamins. She promised she'd take them, but didn't. He promised before they got married that he'd never want children, but now he's changed his mind. Their marriage has come to rest on this one question: Can Rose find it in herself to become a mother? Rose is a successful professor and academic. She's never wanted to have a child. The fight ends, and with it their marriage.
But then, Rose has a fight with Luke about the vitamins--again. This time the fight goes slightly differently, and so does Rose's future as she grapples with whether she can indeed give up the one thing she thought she knew about herself. Can she reimagine her life in a completely new way? That reimagining plays out again and again in each of Rose's nine lives, just as it does for each of us as we grow into adulthood. What are the consequences of our biggest choices? How would life change if we let go of our preconceived ideas of ourselves and became someone completely new? Rose Napolitano's experience of choosing and then choosing again shows us in an utterly compelling way what it means, literally, to reinvent a life and, sometimes, become a different kind of woman than we ever imagined.
A stunning novel about love, loss, betrayal, divorce, death, a woman's career and her identity, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is about finding one's way into a future that wasn't the future one planned, and the ways that fate intercedes when we least expect it.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Nine choices, nine fates, one woman. Donna Freitas takes a woman’s most intimate decision and casts a refracting light on the pressures, regrets, and joys that can accompany it. With crystalline prose that crackles with wit and emotional intensity, she reveals how a woman’s effort to be true to her own choices can be a struggle that requires not only everything she has, but everything she might become. Starkly honest, absorbing, and wholly original." - Judy Blundell
"In captivating Sliding Doors style, we’re offered an intimate glimpse into the nine different lives of one woman as she struggles to define womanhood. Riveting, astute and brazenly honest, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano has left an indelible mark—I won't soon forget it." - Karma Brown
"A structurally ambitious, deeply thoughtful and even-handed consideration of many of the most complex decisions women make about their families and futures—not to mention a generally wise meditation on the control we all do and don't have over our fates." - Linda Holmes
"Ambitious, compelling, and provocative, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano delves deep into love, motherhood, and the complicated dance that is navigating the world as a woman—its intricate structure kept me turning pages and the questions posed therein kept me awake at night." - Claire Lombardo
"Donna Freitas brilliantly unfurls from every angle one of the most urgent questions of a woman’s life, motherhood, creating a dazzling kaleidoscope of love, pain and possibility. The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is a page-turner, a novel that is impossible to put down." - Martha McPhee
"Sometimes the right book finds you at the perfect time, and that's exactly what happened in the case of The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano. I read this novel in one greedy gulp. It brilliantly turns the prism on what it means to be a woman: More than the sum of our joys and pains, we are also etched with the roads not taken and opportunities lost. The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is a trenchant portrait of womanhood, and everything I look for in a novel: intimate, thought-provoking, and terribly moving." - Lauren Mechling
"In a powerful exploration of motherhood and feminism, Donna Freitas probes the ties that bind us all to one another through love, through obligation and through choice. At once thought provoking and emotionally moving, this novel will have readers examining their own relationships and their own ‘what-ifs.’" - Jill Santopolo
"Donna Freitas writes about the mysteries surrounding motherhood and the choice to remain childless with disarming directness and feeling. This is a thought-provoking, absorbing book." - René Steinke
"In captivating Sliding Doors style, we’re offered an intimate glimpse into the nine different lives of one woman as she struggles to define womanhood. Riveting, astute and brazenly honest, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano has left an indelible mark—I won't soon forget it." - Karma Brown
"A structurally ambitious, deeply thoughtful and even-handed consideration of many of the most complex decisions women make about their families and futures—not to mention a generally wise meditation on the control we all do and don't have over our fates." - Linda Holmes
"Ambitious, compelling, and provocative, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano delves deep into love, motherhood, and the complicated dance that is navigating the world as a woman—its intricate structure kept me turning pages and the questions posed therein kept me awake at night." - Claire Lombardo
"Donna Freitas brilliantly unfurls from every angle one of the most urgent questions of a woman’s life, motherhood, creating a dazzling kaleidoscope of love, pain and possibility. The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is a page-turner, a novel that is impossible to put down." - Martha McPhee
"Sometimes the right book finds you at the perfect time, and that's exactly what happened in the case of The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano. I read this novel in one greedy gulp. It brilliantly turns the prism on what it means to be a woman: More than the sum of our joys and pains, we are also etched with the roads not taken and opportunities lost. The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is a trenchant portrait of womanhood, and everything I look for in a novel: intimate, thought-provoking, and terribly moving." - Lauren Mechling
"In a powerful exploration of motherhood and feminism, Donna Freitas probes the ties that bind us all to one another through love, through obligation and through choice. At once thought provoking and emotionally moving, this novel will have readers examining their own relationships and their own ‘what-ifs.’" - Jill Santopolo
"Donna Freitas writes about the mysteries surrounding motherhood and the choice to remain childless with disarming directness and feeling. This is a thought-provoking, absorbing book." - René Steinke
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