Short history of a writer: Began as a Jersey girl who left at 17 for university and fell in love with my best-and-always boyfriend. Grew to love the Midwest’s wide prairies and kind ways. But put me back on the East Coast and my heart chants home, home, home!

The landscapes of childhood are in us forever. The ancient oaks, the sea wind off the Atlantic, the Palisades: I remember I remember… in reverence and reverie.

---

On May 28^th, we flew from Madison to LaGuardia with nary a predicted thunderstorm to mar our flight. Then a cab to our friends Liz and David’s glorious Soho digs. A thrilling new era had begun in the life of Dale M.

Next day, Jen, John, Jess and Troy, B and moi head to Katz’s deli (with a stop at the oldest pizzeria in NY) for pastrami on rye. Oi, the tumult! I’d forgotten. Oh, lost land of my youth!

---

Saturday evening: Here I am on 20^th Street (thank you Mary Jaeger!) for designing this gorgeous shawl) on my way to the big book launch party.

So many cherished friends arrive, including my great Grand Central team and adored agent, Gail Hochman. Humbled by the realization that my book brings us together. A blessed thing!

---

The feast prepared by dear hosts Annie and Peter is sumptuously elegant. Foodies cry your eyes out. The toothpicks are from Paris.
 
 

---

Wednesday: moving day. I have Nan Gatewood Satter to thank for setting up the book group at Merrill’s, my first experience of readers discussing characters I’ve lived with for years as though they’re real people. Books as Rorschach.

A late night run dragging my overstuffed suitcase (I swear I WILL learn how to pack more efficiently) to Port Authority and a bus ride to New Paltz.

---

Readings and signings at Inquiring Minds in New Paltz and The Golden Notebook in Woodstock. More old friends show up. How have they heard? Answering thoughtful questions from the audiences makes me wiser about what I’ve written. I’m learning about what I wrote in hindsight. The process of unpacking the themes in TCOL continues. Writing as revelation!

---

Here’s to the joy of making new friends.

---

Have you ever heard of syndicated love? EDGE is this company based in Boston that has websites dedicated to cities all around the country– Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and 13 other cities. Kitty Drexel, one of EDGE’s book reviewers, wrote this spectacular review of The Conditions of Love a few days ago and it’s now posted on all of these 21 sites. Talk about getting the word around. Who knew this kind of phenomenon existed? Here’s my favorite part:

Kushner has a divine understanding of the ties that bind people in relationships. The Conditions of Love is rife with truths about man’s equally selfish and selfless need to experience love in its many forms. Eunice might be the central player, but the hero of this tale is Love. Eunice experiences many kinds of loss. Before and after each misadventure she seeks solace in the stable relationships of her past and present: Mr. Tabachnik, a kind neighbor; her adopted guardian, Rose; Sam, a misguided role model. Although she may often be lonely, Eunice does not experience the destitution of abandonment.

 

Kushner’s writing consists of equal parts reverence for the human condition and sympathy for the pain that is a necessary part of that condition. This novel is an engrossing read and difficult to put down.

You can read the entire review here. .

---