Ayelet Waldman

'Ayelet Waldman is fearless' Rebecca Solnit'Relentlessly honest and surprisingly funny' Washington Post'Genuinely brave and human' New York Times'Wildly brilliant' ElleThe true story of how a renowned writer's struggle with mood storms led her to try a remedy as drastic as it is forbidden: microdoses of LSD. Her fascinating journey provides a window into one family and the complex world of a once-infamous drug seen through new eyes.When a small vial arrives in her mailbox from 'Lewis Carroll,' Ayelet Waldman is ready to try anything. Her depression has become intolerable, severe and unmanageable; medication has failed to make a difference. Married with four children and a robust career, she 'should' be happy, but instead her family and her work are suffering at the mercy of her mood disorder. So she opens the vial, places two drops on her tongue, and becomes part of a burgeoning underground group of scientists and civilians successfully using therapeutic microdoses of LSD. As Waldman charts her experience over the course of a month, during which she achieved a newfound feeling of serenity, she also explores the history and mythology of LSD, the cutting-edge research into the drug, and the byzantine policies that control it. Drawing on her experience as a federal public defender, and as the mother of teenagers, and her research into the therapeutic value of psychedelics, Waldman has produced a book that is candid, revealing and completely enthralling.

"Relentlessly honest and surprisingly funny." - The Washington Post "Genuinely brave and human." --The New York Times "Wildly brilliant." --Elle The true story of how a renowned writer's struggle with mood storms led her to try a remedy as drastic as it is forbidden: microdoses of LSD. Her fascinating journey provides a window into one family and the complex world of a once-infamous drug seen through new eyes. When a small vial arrives in her mailbox from "Lewis Carroll," Ayelet Waldman is ready to try anything. Her depression has become intolerable, severe and unmanageable; medication has failed to make a difference. Married with four children and a robust career, she "should" be happy, but instead her family and her work are suffering at the mercy of her mood disorder. So she opens the vial, places two drops on her tongue, and becomes part of a burgeoning underground group of scientists and civilians successfully using therapeutic microdoses of LSD. As Waldman charts her experience over the course of a month, during which she achieved a newfound feeling of serenity, she also explores the history and mythology of LSD, the cutting-edge research into the drug, and the byzantine policies that control it. Drawing on her experience as a federal public defender, and as the mother of teenagers, and her research into the therapeutic value of psychedelics, Waldman has produced a book that is candid, revealing and completely enthralling.

A groundbreaking collection of essays by celebrated international writers bears witness to the human cost of fifty years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.In Kingdom of Olives and Ash, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, two of today's most renowned novelists and essayists, have teamed up with the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence--an organization comprised of former Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories and saw firsthand the injustice there--and a host of illustrious writers to tell the stories of the people on the ground in the contested territories.Kingdom of Olives and Ash includes contributions from several of today's most esteemed storytellers including: Colum McCann, Jacqueline Woodson, Colm Toibin, Geraldine Brooks, Dave Eggers, Hari Kunzru, Raja Shehadeh, Mario Vargas Llosa and Assaf Gavron, as well as from editors Chabon and Waldman. Through these incisive, perceptive, and poignant essays, readers will gain unique insight into the narratives behind the litany of grim destruction broadcasted nightly on the news, as well as deeper understanding of the conflict as experienced by the people who live in the occupied territories. Together, these stories stand witness to the human cost of the occupation.

NOW IN ONE VOLUME--THE FIRST THREE MOMMY-TRACK MYSTERIES "Nursery Crimes"Bored with playdates and trips to the park, Juliet Applebaum, a public defender turned stay-at-home mom, gets off the mommy track to hunt down the murderer of a preschool principal. "The Big Nap"When her infant son's babysitter disappears, an exhausted Juliet and her over-tired kids travel to Brooklyn to find answers, justice, and maybe the chance to get a nice, long nap. "A Playdate with Death"Juliet is happy to be getting some kid-free time at the gym--until her peppy personal trainer dies under mysterious circumstances. Always up for a reason to get out of the house, Juliet jumps at the chance to investigate.

The longtime head of Park Day School, Tom Little embarked on a tour of 43 progressive schools across the country. In this book, his life’s work, he interweaves his teaching experience, the knowledge he gleaned from his trip, and the history of Progressive Education. As Little and Katherine Ellison reveal, these educators and schools invigorate learning and promote inquisitiveness by allowing the curriculum to grow organically out of children's questions—whether they lead to studying the senses, working on a farm, or re-creating a desert ecosystem in the classroom. We see curious students draw on information across disciplines to think in imaginative yet practical ways, like in a "Mini-Maker Faire" or designing and building a chair from scratch. Becoming good citizens was another of Little's goals. He believed in the need for students to learn how to become advocates for themselves, from setting rules on the playground to engaging in issues of social justice in the wider community. Using the philosophy of Progressive Education, schools can prepare students to shape a vibrant future in the arts and sciences for themselves and the nation.

A Washington Post Best Book of the YearAn Oprah.com Best Book of the YearIn 1945, on the outskirts of Salzburg, American soldiers discover a train filled with unspeakable riches: gold watches and wedding rings, picture frames and Shabbat candlesticks. Jack Wiseman is the lieutenant tasked with guarding this treasure in the chaotic aftermath of war--a responsibility that grows more complicated when he meets Ilona, a fierce, beautiful Hungarian woman who has lost everything in the ravages of the Holocaust. Seventy years later, amid the shadowy world of art dealers who profit off the sins of previous generations, Jack gives a necklace to his granddaughter, Natalie, and charges her with returning it to its owner. And as Natalie searches for the woman whose portrait and unknown fate have come to haunt her, she will come to understand the secret her grandfather took to his grave.

'A NOVEL TO LOVE AND TREASURE' PHILIPPA GREGORY'REMARKABLE' MICHAEL ONDAATJE'POIGNANTLY MOVING' JOYCE CAROL OATES Salzburg, 1946. A fugitive train loaded with the plunder of a doomed people. A dazzling, jewel-encrusted, peacock-shaped pendant. And three men - an American lieutenant who fought in WWII, an Israeli-born dealer of Nazi plunder, and a pioneering psychiatrist in fin-de-siècle Budapest - who find their carefully-wrought lives turned upside-down by three fierce women, each locked in a struggle against her own history and the history of their times. Spanning continents and a century marked by war and revolution, Love and Treasure is by turns funny and tragic, thrilling and harrowing, mapping the darkness of a shattered Europe against the heartbreak of a modern New Yorker. Told through the prism of the peacock pendant, the novel charts the ebb and flow of history, fate and fortune from 1914 Budapest to present-day New York. And at the centre of Love and Treasure, nested like a photograph hidden in a locket, a mystery: where does the worth of a people and its treasures truly lie? What is the value of a gift, when giver and recipient have been lost - of a love offering when the beloved is no more?'AN AMBITIOUS, PERCEPTIVE NOVEL' GUARDIAN'A WONDERFULLY IMAGINATIVE WRITER' WASHINGTON POST

'I want to be in the company of her frank intelligence forever' Nigella LawsonIn our mothers' day there were good mothers, indifferent mothers, and occasionally, great mothers. Today we have only Bad Mothers: If you work, you're neglectful; if you stay home, you're smothering. If you discipline, you're buying them a spot on the shrink's couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as a "bad mother"?Writing with remarkable candor, and dispensing much hilarious and helpful advice along the way--Is breast best? What should you do when your daughter dresses up as a "ho" for Halloween?--Ayelet Waldman says it's time for women to get over it and get on with it in this wry, unflinchingly honest, and always insightful memoir on modern motherhood.

In the aftermath of a devastating wedding day, two families, the Tetherlys and the Copakens, find their lives unraveled by unthinkable loss. Over the course of the next four summers in Red Hook, Maine, they struggle to bridge differences of class and background to honor the memory of the couple, Becca and John. As Waldman explores the unique and personal ways in which each character responds to the tragedy--from the budding romance between the two surviving children, Ruthie and Matt, to the struggling marriage between Iris, a high strung professor in New York, and her husband Daniel--she creates a powerful family portrait and a beautiful reminder of the joys of life.Elegantly written and emotionally gripping, RED HOOK ROAD affirms Waldman's place among today's most talented authors.

A rich and rewarding story of love, loss, and the power of family from the bestselling author of Bad Mother and Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. In the aftermath of a devastating wedding day, two families, the Tetherlys and the Copakens, find their lives unraveled by unthinkable loss. Over the course of the next four summers in Red Hook, Maine, they struggle to bridge differences of class and background to honor the memory of the couple, Becca and John. As Waldman explores the unique and personal ways in which each character responds to the tragedy--from the budding romance between the two surviving children, Ruthie and Matt, to the struggling marriage between Iris, a high strung professor in New York, and her husband Daniel--she creates a powerful family portrait and a beautiful reminder of the joys of life. Elegantly written and emotionally gripping, Red Hook Road affirms Waldman's place among today's most talented authors.

Harvard Law graduate Emilia Greenleaf's perfect life with her beloved Jack is turned upside down by her new preschool-age stepson, William, a situation that is further complicated when she loses her own newborn daughter, but it is through William that she begins to heal and to discover what family really means. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.

Is Emilia the wicked stepmother incarnate? Passionately in love with her husband, Emilia has a secret, guilty loathing for her precocious little stepson, William - a forty-year-old in a five-year-old's body, whom she picks up from nursery every Wednesday afternoon. He is lactose intolerant, she feeds him dairy products; he mustn't get cold, she pushes him - accidentally - into the pond in Central Park. How can she forgive William for living, when her own cherished child has gone?'Moving and darkly funny, romantic, shocking, painful page-turner...says something new and interesting about women, families and love' New York Times'One moment I was laughing out loud..the next I had tears pouring down...whether you're a parent or not, you can't fail to be moved' Daily Express