THE LEARNING CURVE

Fiona and Liv are seniors at Buchanan College, a small liberal arts school in rural Pennsylvania. Fiona, who is still struggling after the death of her younger sister, is spending her final year sleeping with abrasive men she meets in bars. Liv is happily coupled and on the fast track to marriage with an all-American frat boy. Both of their journeys, and their friendship, will be upended by the relationships they develop with Oliver Ash, a visiting literature professor whose first novel was published to great success at the age of twenty-six. Now Oliver is in his early forties, with thinning hair, rugged good looks, and a checkered past--there is talk of a relationship with an underage woman, a former student, at a previous teaching job. Meanwhile, Oliver's wife, Simone, is pursuing an academic research project in Berlin, raising their five-year-old son, dealing with her husband's absence, and wondering if their marriage is beyond repair. This sly, stunning, wise-beyond-its-years novel is told from the perspectives of the three women and showcases Berman's talent for exploring the complexities of desire, friendship, identity, and power dynamics in the contemporary moment.

Praise for Mandy Berman’s PERENNIALS ( Random House, 2017):

• “Berman is at her most insightful when exploring the awkward unfurling of female adolescence… PERENNIALS is a sharp meditation on the changing female body, and the ways in which such changes are often involuntary and unwanted.”—J. Courtney Sullivan, The New York Times Book Review
• “This story of facing life’s difficulties is most memorable because of Berman’s excellently crafted, multifaceted characters.” —Publishers Weekly
• “Berman’s debut recalls the beloved teen and adult novels of Judy Blume, both in topic and prose style: simple, powerful, unafraid to confront serious issues.”—Kirkus Reviews
• “Berman is a daring and fearless explorer of the complicated lives of young women. Her debut [is] a winning, keenly observed, and clear-eyed novel.”—Elissa Schappell, author of Blueprints for Building Better Girls