Jackie Thomas-Kennedy's THE OTHER WIFE In Store Book Launch and Signing

Join us at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore on Tuesday, July 15th at 7:00 PM when Bay Area author Jackie Thomas-Kennedy comes to the store to discuss her new novel The Other Wife. Jackie will be joined in conversation by author Carol Edgarian and will sign copies of her book after the presentation.

Click here to order a copy of The Other Wife prior to the event.

The Other Wife is a big-hearted novel of nostalgia and longing, and a poignant exploration of how we choose to love.

Zuzu met her best friend Cash on the first day of college, and nothing was ever the same. Tall, witty, and popular, his friendship represented a kind of belonging for Zuzu, who had always felt like an outsider growing up mixed race in her rural hometown. Though their friendship was charged with longing, it never progressed to romance. Now approaching her forties, Zuzu has built a stable life with her wife Agnes, a steadfast and career-driven lawyer. Yet Zuzu is haunted by the choices that have shaped her: living with her mother instead of her father in childhood, pursuing law over art, and marrying Agnes while harboring complex feelings for Cash.

When a sudden loss pulls Zuzu back to her hometown, the “what ifs” in her mind become louder than ever, and she begins to unwind the turns that have led her here. Will she embrace the choices she’s made, or risk everything for a chance to chase the past? A novel that speaks to unfulfilled desires and the euphoric nostalgia that’s particular to the beginning of middle age, The Other Wife is as heartfelt as it is daring in its deep reckoning with the past and quest for true joy.

JACKIE THOMAS-KENNEDY was awarded a Stegner Fellowship in 2014. She is the winner of the 2019 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize, and her work has been recorded for NPR’s Selected Shorts. Her stories have appeared in American Short Fiction, One Story, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University School of the Arts, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife and their family.

CAROL EDGARIAN is a New York Times-bestselling author whose novels include Vera, Three Stages of Amazement and the international bestseller Rise the Euphrates. Her fiction and nonfiction have been widely translated and anthologized. She is co-founder and editor of the non-profit digital publisher Narrative Magazine and was key to the implementation of Narrative for Schools, whose programs provide free literature and resources for classrooms throughout the US and in fifty-five countries.

THIS EVENT is free but registration is requested. Registration ends at 6:00 pm on July 15, 2025.

BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.

DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.

WALK-INS will be accommodated only if space allows.

WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:45 and 7:00 PM for the event.

PLEASE leave your non-support companion animals at home.

OUR shared restrooms are not accessible after 6:30 PM, please plan accordingly.

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