You Were Made for This

February 26, 2018
In Sacks’s haunting first novel, Columbia University anthropology
professor Sam Hurley and his set designer wife, Merry, ditch the comforts of Manhattan for a radically different lifestyle in an isolated cottage he has inherited in Sweden. Although the attractive couple and their baby, Conor, present an idyllic picture, deep-rooted problems threaten their relationship. Sam, who never told his wife that he was fired for inappropriate sexual relationships with students, lies to her daily about his activities. Merry chafes at the happy homemaker role Sam insists she was made for, but soldiers on through endless gardening, baking, canning, and tending an infant for whom she feels nothing. But the family loses its shaky equilibrium with a visit from Merry’s glamorous lifelong frenemy, Frank, during which an unthinkable tragedy occurs. Though Sacks (Stone Baby, a story collection) doesn’t give readers anyone to root for, her unblinking look at beautiful people with ugly secrets has the voyeuristic
fascination of a Bergman film. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House.

April 15, 2018
A young family moves to Sweden to pursue an idyllic life in Sacks' debut novel.When Sam inherits a cottage from his stepgrandmother, he and his pregnant wife barely hesitate but pack up their lives in Brooklyn and move, excited to raise their child in this place of ice-cold lakes and dappled sunlight. Merry spends her days picking fresh produce from the garden and baking homemade treats, taking baby Conor for long outings in the woods, and Sam works to begin a new career in documentary film. But from the very beginning of the novel, as both characters take turns narrating the story, it's clear there's something rotten at the core of this perfection. When Merry's best friend from childhood, Frank, comes for a visit, she can immediately see the ugliness beneath this facade. She knows Merry too well, knows her history of slipping from persona to persona, and she can see Sam for what he is. But Frank has her own secrets, and as her voice joins the others in narrating the story, it becomes clear that she's suffering for her own sins and may not be able--or willing--to save anyone. Sacks has crafted a beguiling and frightening modern fairy tale, an Eden story that presents an Adam and Eve who were never innocent and who try to make over the world on their own terms only to find that evil thrives even in the most ideal of settings. Sacks' writing is at once lush in description but also spare; she uses the white space around the words to nurture a sense of dread.Hard to read but also bewitchingly hard to put down--a fitting contradiction in a novel that explores the corruption at the heart of beauty.

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April 15, 2018
Merry and Sam Hurley, with their baby son, Conor, are living the perfect life. They left jobs in New York to move to Sweden, where Sam inherited a house, so Merry gardens and cooks what they grow, baking bread and making Conor's baby food, while Sam tries to start a new career. But there are cracks in this picture: Sam, fired from his assistant professorship at Columbia for an improper relationship with a student, continues his infidelity, while Merry holds secrets about her son and her lack of feelings for him. Then beautiful, single Frank (her nickname for Frances) comes to visit. She and Merry have been as close as sisters since childhood, best friends who bring out the worst in each other. Frank, who's smitten with Conor and flirting with Sam, generally takes over when Merry gets the flu. Tragedy that seemed likely early on now starts to seem inevitable, but its resolution remains a question until the end. An insightful and skillfully constructed novel, with three alternating narrators, this will keep readers rapt to the final page.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from March 1, 2018

Sacks's first novel expertly portrays the dark side of domesticity and motherhood. A young married couple with an adorable baby boy, Merry and Sam are reveling in their new life in the isolated Swedish countryside. Merry is the epitome of familial devotion; Sam is proud of how he's molded her into such a domestic goddess. But he doesn't see the word HELP written by a finger in the dust, or hear the baby's wailing for hours on end. Sam doesn't realize that Merry is an expert at illusion, her interchangeable selves gliding in and out of roles like an actress in a play. But Merry's performance may not be enough when her closest childhood friend Frank comes for an extended visit and reignites the rivalry between them. Frank can see through Merry's facade of domestic happiness; each is a missing piece to the other's puzzle. When tragedy strikes, secrets unravel. Who will survive and who will be sacrificed? VERDICT Fans of dark and twisted psychological thrillers will be swept up in the appearance of domestic bliss and maternal perfection, only to be left off-kilter and breathless with each costume change. [See Prepub Alert, 12/11/17.]--K.L. Romo, Duncanville, TX

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2018

Cheerfully baking, gardening, and watching over young son Conor, Merry looks to be content with her marriage, but her best friend senses that something isn't quite right. A 50,000-copy printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018

Cheerfully baking, gardening, and watching over young son Conor, Merry looks to be content with her marriage, but her best friend senses that something isn't quite right. A 50,000-copy printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.