Elements of Style
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER ONE: Frankie
CHAPTER TWO: Judy
CHAPTER THREE: Albert
CHAPTER FOUR: Abraham
CHAPTER FIVE: Clarice
CHAPTER SIX: Frankie
CHAPTER SEVEN: Judy
CHAPTER EIGHT: Charlie
CHAPTER NINE: Frankie
CHAPTER TEN: Barry
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Judy
CHAPTER TWELVE: Charlie
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Frankie
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Samantha
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Barry
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Samantha
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Frankie
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Clarice
CHAPTER NINETEEN: Charlie
CHAPTER TWENTY: Samantha
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Clarice
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Samantha
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Charlie
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Frankie
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Clarice
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Barry
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Judy
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Samantha
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Frankie
CHAPTER THIRTY: Barry
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Samantha
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: Frankie
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: Judy
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: Barry
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: Samantha
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: Charlie
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: Samantha
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: Frankie
Permissions Acknowledgments
Also by Wendy Wasserstein
Copyright Page
For Gerald Gutierrez
—more than a director
Acknowledgments
I first mentioned the idea for this novel to my agent, Lynn Nesbit, over drinks after I delivered a lecture about Sloth at the New York Public Library. I remain grateful to her for preventing me from adhering to my own wisdom. Her insights have been incisive, and her knowledge of New York social mores is encyclopedic.
Throughout this process, my editor, Victoria Wilson, has been a source of wisdom, unsentimental guidance, and real friendship. Her support has been constant and invaluable.
Finally, even the daunting task of a playwright finishing a novel is worth it when at the end of the road there are drinks and a Bruce Willis movie with Sonny Mehta.
Jeremy Strong is a young talented actor. Michael Barakiva is a young talented director. They are both voracious readers of novels, and I am grateful to them for being able to read my handwriting and type this one.
My father, Morris Wasserstein, arrived at Ellis Island at age seven in 1928. He lived the next seventy-five years of his life in New York City. I am grateful for his belief in the promise of New York and its people.
I am eternally grateful to my five-year-old daughter, Lucy Jane, for her love, foresight, and courage in taking me, as a mother, to the offices of the best pediatricians in New York.
·CHAPTER ONE·
Frankie
Frankie Weissman pushed open the door to her new offices with two double-sized Penny Whistle Toys shopping bags. After spending the morning on her hospital rounds, she had gone into the store just to look. Soon she fell under the spell of a motorized “furr real” pink poodle and Smart Cindy, a foot-tall scholarly doll equipped with 16,000 megabytes of intelligence. Frankie was certain that within an hour she would be hearing her patients’ parents warning them, “Be careful. You don’t know where Smart Cindy’s been,” or “Don’t play with the poodle. You could get anthrax.” But at least Frankie knew she was making a fresh start.
“Dr. Weissman, Dr. Steele is on line one for you.” Rosita the receptionist looked up from the desk as Frankie walked into the waiting room.