Dale M. Kushner, author of The Conditions of Love, on tour May/June 2014

About The Conditions of Love

Hardcover: 384 pages

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (May 14, 2013)

Dale M. Kushner’s novel The Conditions of Love traces the journey of a girl from childhood to adulthood as she reckons with her parents’ abandonment, her need to break from society’s limitations, and her overwhelming desire for spiritual and erotic love. In 1953, ten-year-old Eunice lives in the backwaters of Wisconsin with her outrageously narcissistic mother, a manicureeste and movie star worshipper.

Abandoned by her father as an infant, Eunice worries that she will become a misfit like her mother. When her mother’s lover, the devoted Sam, moves in, Eunice imagines her life will finally become normal. But her hope dissolves when Sam gets kicked out, and she is again alone with her mother. A freak storm sends Eunice away from all things familiar. Rescued by the shaman-like Rose, Eunice’s odyssey continues with a stay in a hermit’s shack and ends with a passionate love affair with an older man. Through her capacity to redefine herself, reject bitterness and keep her heart open, she survives and flourishes. In this, she is both ordinary and heroic. At once fable and realistic story, The Conditions of Love is a book about emotional and physical survival. Through sheer force of will, Eunice saves herself from a doomed life.

This engaging examination of a mother and daughter’s relationship will appeal to the same audience that embraced Mona Simpson’s acclaimed classic Anywhere But Here and Elizabeth Strout’s bestselling Amy and Isabelle.

The Conditions of Love received a TLA Lariat Award nomination for Outstanding Adult Fiction 2013.

“A fine exploration of growing up, weathering heartbreak and picking oneself up over and over.” (Kirkus)

“A coming-of-age story that wonderfully combines literary style with heartbreaking plot twists and still manages to be uplifting, even before the epilogue that ties everything together.” (Booklist)

“It’s a tribute to Dale Kushner’s talent that in her debut novel, The Conditions of Love, she can pack so much emotional reality in so few words: maternal narcissism in a sentence, family dysfunction in a paragraph.”- Kevin O’Kelly in THE RUMPUS

“A stunningly self-assured novel for a debut, and it leaves the reader hoping that Kushner will write a second.”- Josh Mallory, Book Reporter

“An immaculately written, enthralling and passionate debut” – Margot Livesay

“A wise, funny, poignant novel”- Ann Hood

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble|IndieBound

About Dale M. Kushner

Dale M. Kushner is a poet and writer. Her work has been widely published in literary journals including IMAGE, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Salmagundi, Witness, Fifth Wednesday and elsewhere. Her most recent poetry collection More Alive Than Lions Roaring was a finalist for the May Swenson Poetry Award at Utah State Press and The Prairie Schooner Book Competition. In 2010 she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Ms. Kushner has studied at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich and has an ongoing interest in Buddhism and spiritual life. She lives with her husband in Madison, Wisconsin. The Conditions of Love is her first novel.

Connect with Dale at her website, dalemkushner.com.