Alice & Oliver

The “wrenchingly powerful”* new novel about a family fighting for its life by the award-winning author of theNew York Times bestseller Beautiful Children

Alice Culvert is a force: passionate, independent, and smart. To her delight, she attracts attention wherever she goes, even amid the buzz of mid-nineties New York. In knee-high boots, with her newborn daughter strapped to her chest, at just a glance Alice is obviously, vividly alive. Which makes her cancer diagnosis feel impossible. How could such a woman not go on? But all at once, Alice’s existence, and that of her husband, Oliver, is reduced to a single purpose: survival. As they combat the disease, navigate a labyrinthine healthcare system, and absorb the best intentions of loved ones, the couple also must confront the deep, dangerous stressors that threaten to pull them apart. Inspired by his own story, Charles Bock writes with humor, wisdom, and love about one family’s unforgettable journey.

Advance praise for Alice & Oliver

“Alice & Oliver is a wrenchingly powerful novel. Charles Bock chronicles the daily struggles of a young wife and mother facing her own imminent mortality. This is a soul portrait of a family in crisis, written with a fearless clarity and a deep understanding of the bonds that can hold two people together even in the darkest hour.”—Richard Price*

“I was amazed that such a heartbreaking narrative could also affirm, on every page, why we love this frustrating world and why we hold on to it for as long as we can. Alice Culvert is a character of such fight and such spirit, such thrumming aliveness, that she takes on an epic dimension. Charles Bock has stared down life’s most difficult questions to write a truly revelatory, truly great book.”—Joshua Ferris

Charles Bock is the author of the novel Beautiful Children, which was aNew York Times bestseller and notable book of the year, and won the Sue Kaufmann Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared inHarper’s, Esquire, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Slate,as well as in numerous anthologies. He lives with his wife, Leslie Jamison, and his daughter in New York City.