Allegra Goodman has been described as an "altogether original talent" (
Los Angeles Times) whose writing is "hilarious" (
New York Newsday). In
The Family Markowitz, Goodman writes with charm and compassion about three generations of Markowitzes making their way in America. Among them are Rose, the cantankerous matriarch; Henry, her formerly gay but now married son who runs a Laura Ashley shop in London; her younger son Ed, a terrorism expert at Georgetown; and Ed's daughter Miriam, the medical student who, to her parents' consternation, becomes a born-again Jew. Through extraordinary crises and ordinary rituals, they assert their love and independence, and never fail to speak their minds.