Em's Awful Good Fortune: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Ems Awful Good Fortunetakes its reader across the world and deep into the heart of its trapped, privileged, suffering, and, ultimately, invincible narrator.
Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prizewinning author ofThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Set against the backdrop of the expat lifestyle, Ems Awful Good Fortune is about marriagelove and family, work and compromise, betrayal and heartbreak, resentment and resolution. Weaving back and forth in time and between cities and countries, Ems booming voicefierce, funny, and relatableis the engine that drives this story. Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Detroit, Los Angeles and SeoulEm stomps her wayaround the world on the personal journey to reimagine and reclaim her voice. True to life, this is a disorderly journeyone that ultimately leads to a new understanding of partnership and the complexity of relationships.

For lovers of books by Jennifer Egan, Sally Rooney, and Elizabeth Strout.

Reviews

2022 IAN Book of the Year Winner in Women's Fiction
2022 NYC Big Book Awards Winner in Contemporary Novel
2022 NYC Big Book Awards Distinguished Favorite in Audiobook Fiction
2022 Readers Favorite Book Awards Silver Medal Winner in Fiction (Realistic)
2022 Firebird Book Awards First Place Winner in Summer/Beach Read and Marriage
2022 Firebird Book Awards Second Place Winner in Contemporary Fiction, Women's Issues, and Humor
2022 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Marriage
2022 International Book Awards Finalist in Humor/Comedy/Satire
2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Womens Issues (Non-Fiction)
2022 Book Excellence Awards Finalist in Fiction
2022 Independent Press Awards Winner in Contemporary Novel
2021 American Fiction Awards Finalist in Literary Fiction
2021 Foreword Indie Silver Winner in Humor
2021 Hollywood Book Festival Honorary Mention in General Fiction

Ems Awful Good Fortune takes its reader across the world and deep into the heart of its trapped, privileged, suffering, and, ultimately, invincible narrator. Equally funny and brutal, this novel breathes vivid life into a much maligned and little understood typethe expat wife. Maxfield poured her heart into the writing, and it shows: the pages crackle.
Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Drown and This Is How You Lose Her

Maxfield calls Ems problems those of 'tagalong wife privilege, but the novel isnt just about that; theres something here thats more universal, which women in different circumstances are sure to find familiar: the notion of abandoning the care of ones own health and happiness in the name of love of family and marriage.
Kirkus Reviews

Em's Awful Good Fortuneis a traveloguethrough the heart and mind of a womantorn between her marriage to her globetrotting husband and loyalty to herself. With unsentimental humor and deep humanity, Marcie Maxfield writes withbrutal grace about the journey to find theself you didn't know you'd lost. Oh, and this isn't chick lit. This is lit.
Alan Watt,LA Timesbest-selling author of Diamond DogsandThe 90-Day Novel

A fast-paced, blink-and-youll-miss-it whirlwind of a book capturing the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a tagalong expat wife. Marcie Maxfield will take you on a global rideand personal journeyin this funny, poignant novel.
Stephanie Suga Chen, author of The Straits Times bestseller Travails of a Trailing Spouse and Disunited Nations: International School Mums at War

Ems Awful Good Fortune is ferocious and hilarious, with a writing voice so unique it will knock your socks off. This breathless story of a womans attempt at balancing love with self-love as she navigates the few joys and many pitfalls of the tagalong life will keep you reading until the wee hours, and might even change the way you view marriage, travel, and feminism.
Corine Gantz, author of Hidden in Paris and the trilogy The Curator of Broken Things.

Ems Awful Good Fortune brilliantly skewers the rarified life of the overly precious tagalong expat life. The novel reads like your best friends blisteringly funny diary, especially if your best friend happens to be a stand-up comic with a knifes-edge wit who can make mincemeat out of any philandering husband. . . . Find a chair, open the first page of this sizzling story, and fly around the world on that trip youve been itching to take all year.
Susan Conley, author of Landslide and The Foremost Good Fortune

With wit, wisdom and remarkable candor, Marcie Maxfield shines a light on a secret side of the jet-set world. As a fellow expat, she had me nodding and laughingand sometimes groaningin recognition of her experiences. Marcie describes so accurately the free-falling feeling of arriving in a new country. Any woman who has ever sacrificed something of herself for her family will empathize with the good fortune that comes with a hidden cost.
Jo Furniss, author of The Trailing Spouse, The Last To Know, and Amazon Charts bestseller All the Little Children

Maxfields Em is the feminist response to Dangerfields I dont get no respect. A character you want to meet in a lost bar in a lost town and spend the evening laughing with. Ironic, poignant, and downright funny, this is a great novel to take on the road . . .
Andrew Fierberg, producer of Secretary and My Art

Em's Awful Good Fortune is an intense look at what it means to stay in a rocky marriage and persevere. By turns funny and heartbreaking, it addresses the ups and downs of being alternatively assertive and submissive and challenges readers to assess how much sacrifice makes sense in a particular relationship. The book is a forthright examination of love and a deeply felt examination of love's limitations.
Eleanor J. Bader, award-winning freelance journalist

With one foot in the past and one in the present, Marcie Maxfield compiled a stunner of a novel.
Mel Rosenthal, The Book Slut

This is not just a womans book; it's a universal lesson, the medicine of which doesn't come with a spoonful of sugar. The writing is hardheaded, honest, and direct. Em is a flawed and therefore endearingly human character. Maxfield is like a great comic actor, improvising, free-associating, seducing us to ride along on the riff that is Ems Awful Good Fortune.
Rick Lenz, award-winning author ofNorth of HollywoodandThe Alexandrite

Em is a complex individual, with layers to her personality that make her utterly riveting to read. The non-linear narrative style enriches the story and keeps you hooked throughout the pages. Recommended to readers who enjoy comedy-dramas.
Readers Favorite, 5-star review

Maxfield is . . . a playwright known for infusing humor and wit into feminist issues that are not always very funny. In her novel, she accomplishes the same as she addresses with honesty and empathy the dark side of becoming a tagalong spouse.
Asian Review of Books

Ems Awful Good Fortune is a hoot. This is a story that stays with the reader long after reading the last page. I recommend it to anyone in a marriage or contemplating entering one.
Story Circle Book Reviews

With a brilliant cast of colorful characters and specific details of each country lived in, this book is sure to draw in readers who are looking to experience a true traveling adventure with real-life celebrations and letdowns.
Seattle Book Review

Author Bio

Marcie Maxfields voice is fierce, authentic, and personal. Her debut novel, Ems Awful Good Fortune, is based on her experiences living overseas as a tagalong wife. Her play Girls Together Alwaysa collection of coming-of-age stories about growing up girlwon the ENCORE! Producers Award at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Maxfield lives in Los Angeles, where she is a teen mentor and teaches writing for a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering girls through creativity. She is married with two kids, a French bulldog, and two rescue cats named Hunky and Dory. They live in Los Angeles, CA.