In the years between 1991 and 2006, Hannah Gavener does something kind of extraordinary.  She grows up.  She does not always take the easy route, though not always on purpose.  She is an awkward teenager living with her Aunt after her father throws the whole family out.  Hannah is a college student – bookish, solitary.  She dabbles at trying to be like everyone else, but with the running dialogue in her mind, somehow she knows this isn’t true.  Hannah, like many, is a lot of things during her life.  Alongside is her family, pushing and pulling throughout the story – there is her Mother, plodding along after a rocky marriage; her sister, the one with the heart of gold.  Aunt Elizabeth, a hippy living out a quaint life with her husband and son.  Cousin Fig, a fierce bombshell taking on the world.  There are others in between who, as in any life, help to shape and mold Hannah.

Readers may get a little frustrated with Hannah’s propensity for shyness and self-defeat, but she is always honest about her feelings; which is more than a lot of folks can say.  Will it all work out for Hannah?  And really, what does ‘work out’ even mean?  For Hannah, she just wants to be happy.  Read on, and see how she does.

Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfield