Poet Percer's fiction debut is an intimate portrait of an intelligent, tender girl with a deep wish to protect those she loves. With a depressed mother and an ailing father, Naomi Feinstein found comfort and peace in her only friend: Teddy. But when he disappears from her life when she is 15-years-old, Naomi is devastated. To distract herself from the loss, Naomi dives into her studies, desperate to get into Wellesley College and become a cardiac surgeon, a dream she's had since age eight when she witnessed her adored father suffer a near-fatal heart attack. Naomi is finally accepted at Wellesley, and she arrives with the hopes of finally having a social life, but finds herself awash in loneliness. When she rescues a fellow student from a freezing lake, the heroic act opens the doors to the clandestine Shakespeare Society, an exclusive all-women group with a passion for Shakespeare and secret rituals. It is within "Shakes" that Feinstein begins to let go of her past and form new friendships. But with these new relationships, Naomi finds herself entangled in a scandal, just as her understanding of her past comes crashing down around her. (May)
Enticing and shyly perceptive.” — New York Times Book Review
“[Naomi demonstrates] how to make the kinds of choices that eventually lead to an uncommon but joy-filled life.” — Oprah.com
“Elizabeth Percer relates the life story of Naomi Feinstein with beautifully scripted, lush prose drawing in the reader and providing an unobstructed view deep into the hearts of her characters. . . . An Uncommon Education is rich in history, steeped in family tradition, and full of emotion-a lesson in practiced elegance.” — New York Journal of Books
“Think Dead Poet’s Society or The Secret History .” — New York Post
“A wistful debut novel by noted Bay Area poet.” — San Jose Mercury News
“A fine novel and a young writer to watch.” — Hudson Valley News
“Three-time Pushcart nominee Percer offers an uncommonly good debut that’s finely detailed and emotionally gripping while avoiding every pitfall of the standard coming-of-age tale. Highly recommended.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Poet Percer’s fiction debut is an intimate portrait of an intelligent, tender girl with a deep wish to protect those she loves.” — Publishers Weekly
“Bonds of love, family and friendship, sometimes damaged or beyond repair, are nevertheless celebrated in an intense debut by a noted poet. . . . [A] thoughtful coming-of-age tale that hovers observantly on the edge of melancholia.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Percer’s lyrical novel has much to offer.” — Booklist
“A moving and bittersweet coming-of-age story about love, loss, friendship, ambition, and the power of memory. This complex and satisfying tale introduces a cast of quirky, hilarious, intellectual young women, struggling to find their place in the world.” — J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Maine and Commencement
“Eloquent, haunting and exquisitely written, Percer’s stunning debut finds surprising beauty in the broken places of our lives. Here, winning can’t mute pain, but love endures despite the odds, and the education of a remarkable young woman is as uncommonly original as this novel itself.” — Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You
“Haunting and poignant, Elizabeth Percer’s coming-of-age novel portrays a bright young woman confronting her limits as she watches those she loves deal with illness and betrayal. Each turn of this elegiac debut revealed stark truths that left me both moved and astonished.” — Lauren Belfer, New York Times bestselling author of A Fierce Radiance and City of Light
“It’s impossible not to care about Naomi Feinstein . . . An Uncommon Education beautifully [brings] Naomi to the Bard (the play’s the thing), but also gives the reader something much rarer—a world, and a life, that seem real.” — Nicole Mones, author of Lost in Translation and The Last Chinese Chef
A fine novel and a young writer to watch.
Elizabeth Percer relates the life story of Naomi Feinstein with beautifully scripted, lush prose drawing in the reader and providing an unobstructed view deep into the hearts of her characters. . . . An Uncommon Education is rich in history, steeped in family tradition, and full of emotion-a lesson in practiced elegance.
New York Journal of Books
Enticing and shyly perceptive.
New York Times Book Review
A wistful debut novel by noted Bay Area poet.
Percer’s lyrical novel has much to offer.
Think Dead Poet’s Society or The Secret History .
[Naomi demonstrates] how to make the kinds of choices that eventually lead to an uncommon but joy-filled life.
A moving and bittersweet coming-of-age story about love, loss, friendship, ambition, and the power of memory. This complex and satisfying tale introduces a cast of quirky, hilarious, intellectual young women, struggling to find their place in the world.
Eloquent, haunting and exquisitely written, Percer’s stunning debut finds surprising beauty in the broken places of our lives. Here, winning can’t mute pain, but love endures despite the odds, and the education of a remarkable young woman is as uncommonly original as this novel itself.
It’s impossible not to care about Naomi Feinstein . . . An Uncommon Education beautifully [brings] Naomi to the Bard (the play’s the thing), but also gives the reader something much rarer—a world, and a life, that seem real.
Haunting and poignant, Elizabeth Percer’s coming-of-age novel portrays a bright young woman confronting her limits as she watches those she loves deal with illness and betrayal. Each turn of this elegiac debut revealed stark truths that left me both moved and astonished.
Percer’s lyrical novel has much to offer.
Think Dead Poet’s Society or The Secret History .
Bonds of love, family and friendship, sometimes damaged or beyond repair, are nevertheless celebrated in an intense debut by a noted poet. Naomi Feinstein, the misfit child of misfit parents--an orphaned immigrant Jewish father and a depressed Catholic mother--grows up clever but lonely in Brookline, Mass., convinced by her father's heart attack that her destiny lies in cardiac medicine. Friendship with Teddy, the boy next door, turns into an early but enduring love. However Teddy moves away, leaving Naomi alone once more while still questing for a closer relationship with her troubled mother. Accepted at Wellesley College, Naomi leaves home only to find that college life is just as solitary until a sudden act of heroism on her part leads to acceptance by the Shakespeare Society and friendships, notably with a privileged Japanese girl, Jun Oko. Although Naomi's insularity becomes somewhat diminished, darker events will swallow three of the people she cares most about, and the largest lesson she must learn is that she cannot save any of them. Her efforts to do so and eventual emergence from sadness are charted with restraint and empathy in Percer's lyrical, slightly dreamy narrative. A subdued, thoughtful coming-of-age tale that hovers observantly on the edge of melancholia.
