Join Porter Square Books to celebrate the launch of local author Mameve Medwed's latest novel, Minus Me, joined in conversation by Stephen McCauley (My Ex-Life)! Bestselling author Jodi Picoult described Minus Me as "lovely...A timely reminder that in the worst of times, we sometimes rediscover the very best of ourselves.” This event is free and open to all, hosted on Crowdcast.

Her life turned upside down by a grim diagnosis, a small-town Maine woman sets about writing a "How To" life manual for her handsome yet hapless husband in a novel Elinor Lipman (Good Riddance, On Turpentine Lane) calls "smart, funny-quirky, and so very satisfying." 

Annie and her devoted but comically incompetent childhood sweetheart Sam are the owners and operators of Annie's, a gourmet sandwich shop, home to the legendary Paul Bunyan Special Sandwich--their "nutritionally challenged continual source of income and marital harmony and local fame."

But into their mostly charmed marriage comes the scary medical diagnosis for Annie--and the overwhelming challenge of finding a way to help Sam go on without her. Annie decides to leave Sam step-by-step instructions for a future without her, and considers her own replacement in his heart and their bed. Her best-laid plans grind to a halt with the unexpected appearance of Ursula, Annie's Manhattan diva of a mother, who brings her own brand of chaos and disruption into their lives.

Minus Me is a poignant and hilarious novel about the bonds of marriage, the burdens of maternal love, and the courage to face mortality, "with an ending readers will cherish (Caroline Leavitt, Pictures of You)."

Born in Maine and named for two grandmothers, Mamie and Eva (pronounced May-Meeve), Bangor's "other" writer (after Stephen King), Mameve Medwed is the author of five novels, including How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life. She has published essays in three anthologies, and her short stories, essays, and book reviews have appeared in, among others, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Gourmet, Redbook, Newsday and The Washington Post. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Stephen McCauley is the author of seven novels, most recently, My Ex-Life. He teaches at Brandeis University.

Mameve Medwed with Stephen McCauley, Minus Me