This is Not About Us

Was this just a brief skirmish, or the beginning of a thirty-year feud? In the Rubinstein family, it could go either way. When their beloved sister passes away, Sylvia and Helen Rubinstein are unmoored. A misunderstanding about apple cake turns into a decade of stubborn silence. Busy with their own lives - divorces, dating, career setbacks, college applications and ballet recitals - their children do not want to get involved. As for their grandchildren? Impossible. Sharply observed and laced with humor, This Is Not About Us is a story of growing up and growing old, the weight of parental expectations, and the complex connection between sisters - a big-hearted book about the love that binds a family across generations.

Allegra Goodman is the author of seven novels, including the recent bestseller Isola, which was a Reese's Book Club pick, Intuition, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and Kaaterskill Falls, which was shortlisted for the National Book Award. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Awards and The Best American Short Stories. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.