Tell Me the Truth About Love

(Hardback)

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A novel about sexual love, straight and queer, about love between friends, between exes, between parents and children, between lovers old and new, Erik Tarloffs Tell Me the Truth About Love tells the story of Toby Lindeman, a divorced man in San Francisco leading what appears to be an enviable bachelors life. Suave, attractive, somewhat detached from the emotional needs of those around him, he seems to sail blithely above lifes common difficulties as he goes about his duties as chief fundraiser for the San Francisco Opera.

But then, to his own surprise, he falls passionately in love with the most inappropriate woman possible, the long-time mistress of the powerful man on whom his own future seems to depend. As Toby navigates the risks of this relationship, encountering heartbreak and professional catastrophe along the way, he also finds himself reconnecting on a much deeper level with all the people in his life. Suspenseful, sexy, and often laugh-out-loud funny, Tell Me the Truth About Love is a very contemporary look at the varieties of human connection.

Reviews

"In the art of opera, both ecstasy and misery emanate from love. We wouldnt have it any other way. People are like that."

SF Chronicle

"Tarloff has a knack for bristly close encounters...plot summaries don't do justice to the ways in which the author gracefully weaves together his intersecting story lines as a vehicle to illustrate larger themes"

Zyzzyva

"Tarloffs latest is packed with unexpected twists and a haunting, funny love story for grown-ups."

Diablo Magazine

"Sharp, fast-paced, and unapologetic in its portrayal of the worlds of artistic philanthropy and patronage, Erik Tarloff's operatic new novel gives us the juiciest of predicaments: a protagonist who is difficult but impossible to ignore. San Francisco, meanwhile, plays a supporting role vividly and compellingly."

Belinda McKeon, author of Tender

Reading Erik Tarloffs Tell Me the Truth About Love is like eating a box of carefully selected chocolate truffles: you dont want to stop.

Wendy Lesser, author of Music for Silenced Voices

All the complications of love are here, neatly plotted against a background of arts intrigue. The characterization is clever yet rich in sympathy, even for those who stand in loves way. This is among the best of Tarloffs novels funny, smart, and full of unexpected twists.

Zachary Leader, author of The Life of Saul Bellow

"In Tell Me the Truth About Love, Erik Tarloff displays his unique and uncanny ability to make any culture accessible and universal. A true master of dialogue, he doesnt just tell you a story. He makes you a character within. This book literally begs for a sequel."

Carter Monroe, author of Waffle House Blues

The characters are real, the tensions and the beguiling undercurrents of sensuality are beautifully handled. An elegant, haunting love story for grown ups.

Martin Walker, author of the Bruno, Chief of Police novels

"Tell Me the Truth About Love is a literary beach read. It combines vivid characters, plot twists and plenty of sex, with the elegant dialogue, psychological insight, and sophisticated comedy we've come to expect from Erik Tarloff.

George Stephanopoulos, ABC News

Give someone Tell Me the Truth About Love...and the lucky person will disappear on you until its finishedIts hard to decide whether the repartee is the best youve ever heard or the sex is the best youve never hadTarloff, who told us all he knew about power in Washington left it for San Francisco to tell us all he knows about love.

Margaret Carlson

[Tarloffs] books combine hold-your-attention plotting, with elegant and droll dialogue and description, with insider awareness of their respective settings. This one is set in the arts world of San FranciscoAmong other things, it is a comedy-of-manners about the world of philanthropy, and the endless dance between the people who must ask for money and those who decide whether to giveFrom Evelyn Waugh onward, the Brits have been world champions in mercilessly hilarious depictions of this sort of relations-among-unequals. Erik has a Brit-worthy touch. The book is also about gender politics of all sorts, about parents and children, about love and loss."

James Fallows

Author Bio

ErikTarloff is the author of the national bestsellerFace-Time, The Man Who Wrote the BookandAll Our Yesterdays. His last book,The Woman In Black, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller.Much of his early workwas writtenforthe screen,both large andsmalland for publications includingSlate,The Atlantic,The New York Times,The Washington Post,The Financial Times, and many others.His list of creditsincludesalmost onehundred situationcomedyscripts,includingmultipleepisodes ofM*A*S*H,All in theFamily,theBobNewhart Show,theJeffersons,Alice,Room 222,Housecalls,MyWorld and WelcomeTo It,and manyothers.For his televisionwriting,he has beennominated foranEmmy Award,aWritersGuild Award,and anNAACP Image Award.He currently lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, economist Laura Tyson. This is his fifthnovel.