How to Party With an Infant

by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Genres: Family Life; Literary Fiction; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

The new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Descendants-a hilarious and charming story about a quirky single mom in San Francisco who tiptoes through the minefields of the "Mommy Wars" and manages to find friendship and love.

When Mele Bart told her boyfriend Bobby she was pregnant with his child, he stunned her with an announcement of his own: he was engaged to someone else.

Fast forward two years, Mele's daughter is a toddler, and Bobby and his fiancée want Ellie to be the flower girl at their wedding. Mele, who also has agreed to attend the nuptials, knows she can't continue obsessing about Bobby and his cheese making, Napa-residing, fiancée. She needs something to do. So she answers a questionnaire provided by the San Francisco Mommy Club in elaborate and shocking detail and decides to enter their cookbook writing contest. Even though she joined the group out of desperation, Mele has found her people: Annie, Barrett, Georgia, and Henry (a stay-at-home dad). As the wedding date approaches, Mele uses her friends' stories to inspire recipes and find comfort, both.

How to Party with an Infant is a hilarious and poignant novel from Kaui Hart Hemmings, who has an uncanny ability to make disastrous romances and tragic circumstances not only relatable and funny, but unforgettable.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Print pages: 240

Sample

How to Party With an Infant
Renee—I am very sympathetic to your desires to keep your child safe. Safety is nonnegotiable. I understand that you are outraged, but your insinuations are inappropriate, bigoted, insensitive, and racist. Please don’t mistake concern for your child for bigotry against other ethnic groups. If you believe calling USCIS will “solve” your problem, then the real problem is much larger than this discussion forum. Best of luck.

—Beth Nelson

I can’t imagine having an affair. That would mean having to have sex with two people!

—Overheard at Quince restaurant