Lauren Bernstein

Anonymous Lauren Bernstein

Publisher Marketing: Annie Davis is in over her head. She doesn't know if the problem is sleep deprivation or a preoccupation with supplying her five year old with play dates and after-school activities and her toddler with an endless round of diapers and child proofing devices. Or perhaps she has donated her brain cells to her children in utero, only, unlike most organ donors, she isn't done using hers. Either way, she can no longer compete with her fellow movie reviewers at the Boston Globe who are doing their job and making Annie, who is not, look bad. She figures she better quit before she's fired. Annie, her husband, and their sons move from Boston to Brookhaven, where she soon discovers suburban domesticity is no less taxing than life at a daily paper. Her failing parents require almost as much supervision as her children, and her inability to fit in with her new community only exacerbates her sardonic disposition. After a brief return to the work world, Annie, plagued by a series of unfit baby-sitters and a stalkerish boss, puts her career on hold and waits for her children to grow up, but before that moment arrives, she is blindsided by an unwanted pregnancy. The question is, can funny, neurotic, exasperating Annie resolve this crisis before it destroys her sanity and unravels her marriage?