Minus Me

Book excerpt: Diagnosed with cancer, a small-town Maine woman writes a “How To” life manual for her husband in this “smart, funny-quirky” novel about marriage, motherhood, love, and loss (Elinor Lipman, author of On Turpentine Lane). “A reminder that in the worst of times, we sometimes rediscover the very best of ourselves.” —Jodi Picoult Annie and her devoted but comically incompetent childhood sweetheart Sam are the owners and operators of Annie's, a gourmet sandwich shop, home to the legendary Paul Bunyan Special Sandwich—their “nutritionally challenged continual source of income and marital harmony and local fame.” But into their mostly charmed marriage comes the scary medical diagnosis for Annie--and the overwhelming challenge of finding a way to help Sam go on without her. Annie decides to leave Sam step-by-step instructions for a future without her, and considers her own replacement in his heart and their bed. Her best-laid plans grind to a halt with the unexpected appearance of Ursula, Annie’s Manhattan diva of a mother, who brings her own brand of chaos and disruption into their lives. Minus Me is a poignant and hilarious novel about the bonds of marriage, the burdens of maternal love, and the courage to face mortality, “with an ending readers will cherish (Caroline Leavitt, Pictures of You).”