Former child prodigy and rich-girl kleptomaniac, Ester—renamed into the gentile Carleen for her own protection—is incarcerated after a botched heist. For two decades, time is the enemy. Her twenties and thirties crawl by in stifling isolation. When finally let loose onto the streets of New York, she finds a job wrestling spoiled canines as a dog walker in Manhattan's most elite neighborhoods, relating better with their brutish instincts than with their human owners. Determined to also prove herself a real person, Carleen tries to reconnect with her estranged and ferociously Orthodox daughter.
Amid the strained brunch dates, unsent letters, and the continuing trauma of prison, Carleen begins a slow and halting process of self-discovery. Strikingly funny and self aware, this belated coming-of-age novel asks the question: How do you restart after crashing your first chance at life?
Co-op available
Galleys available by request
National print campaign:
Sending advance copies to the following publications (both print and online):
NY-specific interest: The New York Times, Village Voice, New York Magazine, The L Magazine, The New Yorker, Brooklyn Rail
General/literary: n+1, Guernica, Full Stop, Bookforum, New York Review of Books, LA Review of Books, LitHub, The Paris Review, Harper's, VICE, Bookforum, The Believer, Bloomsbury Review, Rain Taxi, The Rumpus, Goodreads, Shelf Awareness, Bookslut, Huffington Post, Book Riot, Buzzfeed, Salon
Women's interest: Ms., More, Elle, Bitch, Vanity Fair, Nylon
Jewish interest: Lilith, The Forward, Moment, Tablet, Tikkun
Trades: Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus, Library Journal
Promotion through author's website: lizswados.com
Blurbs sought from: Gloria Steinem, Laverne Cox, Piper Kerman, Sigourney Weaver (on cast of HBOMy DepressionFormer child prodigy and rich-girl kleptomaniac, Esterls=
![Walking the Dog [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/0/5/8/2_177622.jpg)