Lauren Mechling

<Named a most anticipated novel of the summer by Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, Elle, Bustle, Vulture, and more. An assured and savagely funny novel about three old friends as they navigate careers, husbands, an ex-fiancé, new suitors, and, most importantly, their relationships with one another After a devastating break-up with her fiancé, Geraldine is struggling to get her life back on track in Toronto. Her two old friends, Sunny and Rachel, left ages ago for New York, where they've landed good jobs, handsome husbands, and unfairly glamorous lives (or at least so it appears to Geraldine). Sick of watching from the sidelines, Geraldine decides to force the universe to give her the big break she knows she deserves, and moves to New York City. As she zigzags her way through the downtown art scene and rooftop party circuit, she discovers how hard it is to find her footing in a world of influencers and media darlings. Meanwhile, Sunny's life as an It Girl watercolorist is not nearly as charmed as it seemed to Geraldine from Toronto. And Rachel is trying to keep it together as a new mom, writer, and wife--how is it that she was more confident and successful at twenty-five than in her mid-thirties? Perhaps worst of all, why are Sunny and Rachel--who've always been suspicious of each other--suddenly hanging out without Geraldine? Hilarious and fiercely observed, How Could She is an essential novel of female friendship, an insider's look into the cutthroat world of New York media--from print to podcasting--and a witty exploration of the ways we can and cannot escape our pasts.

After a tumultuous first semester, Mimi Schulman thinks she’s ready to give social climbing a rest and settle into the groove of New York’s wacky Baldwin School. She’s eager to start over with her friends, reconnect with her dad, and make headway with Max Roth—the hottest guy in tenth grade. But when an assignment for the school paper turns scandalous and spirals out of control, Mimi finds little time to enjoy her new and improved existence. Instead, she embarks on a roller coaster ride through the underbelly of the New York art world, from the VIP lounge of a shady nightclub to a private Caribbean island populated with washed-up TV stars and fifteen-second celebrities. As answers keep slipping through her fingers, Mimi begins to wonder if she’ll ever manage to pin down the story and get on with her life. And if so, will her life still be there? All Q, No A is a touching comedy that will appeal to anyone who knows what it’s like have more questions than answers. Fans of Mimi Schulman beware! This book will keep you screaming with laughter long after you’ve turned the last page.

After the collapse of her parents’ marriage, Mimi Schulman leaves her mother in Houston to look after her befuddled photographer father in New York. Too preoccupied with family problems to think much about her new life, Mimi’s first hour at The Baldwin School—an institution where teachers offer psychoanalysis in lieu of grades and students hold cocktail parties in the bathroom between classes—leaves her spinning.When Sam, her childhood best friend, bets her she can’t befriend the “cool girls,” Mimi accepts the challenge, only to discover that social climbing in New York is no easy task. Fitting in with the blond, all-American popular girls back in Texas was nothing compared to joining Baldwin’s clique of raccoon-eyed waifs.Rubbing shoulders with the offspring of diplomats and celebrities, all with secrets and dysfunctions that put her own domestic worries to shame, Mimi finds herself in one bizarre situation to the next—a fake-ID deli, a topless bar, a jacuzzi in Trump Tower—and in the position of winning a bet that threatens to make her lose sight of herself.A coming-of-age story about friendship and betrayal, about brutal honesty and its consequences, The Rise and Fall of a 10th-Grade Social Climber is a novel with heart and a wicked sense of humor.