The First Bad Man

A Guardian literary highlight A Huffington Post 'One to Watch' 'Astounding' LENA DUNHAM , creator of Girls and author of Not That Kind of Girl 'The First Bad Man brings together all of July's talents - it's a book that must be read, a book that must be purchased - in duplicate - one for you, one for a friend. Don't think you can loan this book - you'll never get it back' A. M. HOMES , author of This Book Will Save Your Life and May We Be Forgiven The first novel by the filmmaker, artist and bestselling author Miranda July confirms her as a spectacularly original, iconic, and important voice today, and a writer for all time. The First Bad Man is dazzling and unforgettable.

A Guardian literary highlight A Huffington Post 'One to Watch' 'Astounding' LENA DUNHAM , creator of Girls and author of Not That Kind of Girl 'The First Bad Man brings together all of July's talents - it's a book that must be read, a book that must be purchased - in duplicate - one for you, one for a friend. Don't think you can loan this book - you'll never get it back' A. M. HOMES , author of This Book Will Save Your Life and May We Be Forgiven The first novel by the filmmaker, artist and bestselling author Miranda July confirms her as a spectacularly original, iconic, and important voice today, and a writer for all time. The First Bad Man is dazzling and unforgettable.

The instant New York Time s bestseller is "astonishing...In one novel, Miranda July tells us more about our universal need to be loved, and our ability to love and be loved, than most earthbound authors will in a lifetime" ( Vanity Fair ). In The First Bad Man , Miranda July tells the story of Cheryl, a vulnerable, uptight woman in her early forties who lives alone, with a perpetual lump in her throat, unable to cry. Cheryl is haunted by a baby boy she met when she was six; she also believes she has a profound connection with Phillip, a philandering board member at Open Palm, the women's self-defense studio where she has worked for twenty years. When Cheryl's bosses ask if their twenty-one-year-old daughter Clee can move into her house for a little while, Cheryl's eccentrically ordered world explodes. And yet it is Clee--the selfish, cruel blond bombshell--who teaches Cheryl what it means to love and be loved and, inadvertently, provides the solace of a lifetime. "Brilliant, hilarious, irreverent, piercing-- T he First Bad Man powers past sexual boundaries and gender identification into the surprising galaxy of primal connection" ( O, The Oprah Magazine ). This is a spectacularly original, unsettling, accomplished, and moving first novel with a tender and beguiling happy ending.

The instant New York Time s bestseller is "astonishing...In one novel, Miranda July tells us more about our universal need to be loved, and our ability to love and be loved, than most earthbound authors will in a lifetime" ( Vanity Fair ). In The First Bad Man , Miranda July tells the story of Cheryl, a vulnerable, uptight woman in her early forties who lives alone, with a perpetual lump in her throat, unable to cry. Cheryl is haunted by a baby boy she met when she was six; she also believes she has a profound connection with Phillip, a philandering board member at Open Palm, the women's self-defense studio where she has worked for twenty years. When Cheryl's bosses ask if their twenty-one-year-old daughter Clee can move into her house for a little while, Cheryl's eccentrically ordered world explodes. And yet it is Clee--the selfish, cruel blond bombshell--who teaches Cheryl what it means to love and be loved and, inadvertently, provides the solace of a lifetime. "Brilliant, hilarious, irreverent, piercing-- T he First Bad Man powers past sexual boundaries and gender identification into the surprising galaxy of primal connection" ( O, The Oprah Magazine ). This is a spectacularly original, unsettling, accomplished, and moving first novel with a tender and beguiling happy ending.