Book trailer by Wildflower Films.
The thing about being an evangelical Christian and a Southerner living in New York City, raising her children in an apartment where one of them sleeps in a closet, is that there are a lot of people in your life to disappoint.
So says Elizabeth Passarella in her wry and witty debut, Good Apple. Among the people she has to disappoint are her parents in Memphis, who are bewildered by how their daughter went from interning for Ralph Reed (it's a long story) to voting for Hillary Clinton; her parents' friends, who don't understand how a family of five lives in a two-bedroom apartment; and, perhaps most of all, her colleagues and neighbors on Manhattan's Upper West Side, who are always surprised to learn that their sophisticated, irreverent friend is an evangelical Christian.
Elizabeth keeps readers, no matter their faith or their politics, laughing and nodding along in solidarity, whether she is
- proposing the benefits of fighting with her husband on New York City street corners;
- explaining what it was like to grow up as a Christian with a Jewish dad;
- or recounting the surreal and terrifying experience of finding a rat trapped in her bedroom in her apartment on the eighth floor.
Her love of the city is infectious. Her transparency about highly embarrassing screw-ups is refreshing. And her reminders of forgiveness and grace give us hope. Elizabeth is the smart, funny, red-state, blue-state, Southern, Christian New Yorker you didn't think even existed--but now want as your best friend.
“I, a total heathen, love this book. Elizabeth Passarella understands that none of us is as simple as any one of our labels might suggest. Not religious? Not a Southerner or a New Yorker? All the more reason to read Good Apple.”
—Mary Laura Philpott, author of I Miss You When I Blink
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“With her wit, warmth, and hilarious transparency, Elizabeth Passarella shows us that Southerners, with their gentility, and New Yorkers, with their grit, both have hearts wide open to the world. Plus, I inherently trust anyone who believes in church clothes, can sing every word of El Shaddai, and professes spiritual truths using the Radio City Rockettes. Y’all are going to love Elizabeth and this book.”
—Sarah Stewart Holland, cohost of the Pantsuit Politics podcast
and coauthor of I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening):
A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations
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“In the comedic confounded-believer tradition of Anne Lamott, Elizabeth Passarella redefines ‘good faith’ for me—a Jewish, atheist, pro-choice New Yorker. I laughed at all her jokes, dog-eared all my favorite pages, admired her fearlessness, and felt abiding curiosity about her beliefs.”
—Catherine Newman, author of How to Be a Person and Catastrophic Happiness
Elizabeth Passarella is a contributing editor for Southern Living, where she writes the "Social Graces" column. A former editor at Real Simple and Vogue, she has written about food, travel, home design, and parenting in outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Parents, Martha Stewart Weddings, Coastal Living, and Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn. She lives in New York City.