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Start giftingThe Law of Loving Others
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Learn more“Kate Axelrod’s atmospheric, intense book captures perfectly the heady feeling of being on the edge of adulthood, when the abstract concept of ‘love’ starts to have real and sometimes terrifying meaning and consequences.” – Emily Gould, author of Friendship
“THE LAW OF LOVING OTHERS . . .
Hours after Emma returns home from boarding school, she realizes that her mom is suffering from a schizophrenic break. Suddenly, Emma’s entire childhood and identity is called into question.
COULD NOT BE DISCOVERED BY REASON,
Desperate for answers, Emma turns to her boyfriend, Daniel. Will he love her even if she goes crazy too? But it’s the lonely, brooding boy Emma meets while visiting her mother at the hospital who really understands Emma. Phil encourages Emma’s reckless need for hurt and pain in the face of all this change and she is soon caught in a complicated spiral of loss and mistrust.
BECAUSE IT IS UNREASONABLE.”
In the span of just one winter break, Emma’s relationships alter forever and she is forced to see the wisdom in a line from Anna Karenina: “The law of loving others could not be discovered by reason, because it is unreasonable.”
A beautifully grounded coming-of-age novel, THE LAW OF LOVING OTHERS demands that the listener accept the main character, Emma, for who she is, while also creating deep sympathy for all that she is going through.
Kate Axelrod was born and raised in New York City. She has a B.A. in Creative Writing from Oberlin College and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. She has written for Nerve.com, Salon, and various other publications. She lives in Brooklyn and works as an advocate in the criminal justice system. This is her first novel.
Reviews
“THE LAW OF LOVING OTHERS . . . immerses us in an utterly convincing world, and, in Emma, creates the kind of complex heroine readers will long remember—in all her flaws and hidden strengths and surprising wisdom.”—Dan Chaon, author of AWAIT YOUR REPLY and STAY AWAKE"A riveting and heartbreaking story of every young person's worst nightmare: the descent of a parent into madness. A great read by a great new writer to watch." –Blake Nelson, author of The Prince of Venice Beach
“The Law of Loving Others is a poignant, powerful, and insightful novel about love, loss, and growing up. Kate Axelrod has written a wise and wonderful debut.” -- Margo Rabb, author of Cures for Heartbreak and Kissing in America
"Axelrod has created a convincing portrait of a teen newly experiencing the step-by-step process of learning how to cope with a family member’s mental illness." — School Library Journal
“In this candid, affecting portrait of a girl in crisis, debut author Axelrod nonjudgmentally and realistically captures the swirling ups and downs of anxiety, and the frantic, impotent grasp for control in the face of unpredictable, catastrophic change.” —Booklist
"Axelrod’s prose is careful, intelligent, and contemplative.... [Emma's] actions never feel anything but realistic in this reflective and incisive exploration of the far-reaching effects of mental illness." — Publishers Weekly Expand reviews