Certain Girls

Cannie Shapiro has built a quiet life. Years ago she wrote a hit novel, a fictionalized and sexually frank version of her own story. Then she stepped out of the public eye and began writing science fiction under a pseudonym.

She is now married to Peter Krushelevansky, a tall, charming diet doctor. Her days are predictable in ways she likes: knitting at her daughter Joy's drama rehearsals, volunteering at the library, and taking yoga classes for the over-forty crowd with her best friend Samantha.

The family is preparing for Joy's bat mitzvah, and everything looks settled. Then Joy finds the novel her mother wrote long before. She reads it as the truth about how she was conceived, a story Cannie has kept from her all her life.

At the same moment, Peter tells Cannie that he wants to have a baby. The news lands in a household already shaken. The family has to look again at its past and at what each of them wants next.

This is contemporary women's fiction and a continuation of Cannie's story from Good in Bed, though the setup here is explained well enough to stand alone. The tone is funny and warm, built on quick dialogue and observation of modern family life, with tender moments alongside the comedy.