Perseus Academic: Shaken and Stirred by Joan Opyr

Sometimes, I think my story is about addiction and adultery. Other times, I think it's about bad luck with the Avon lady. And not just one — one I could chalk up to chance. Two rotten Avon ladies feel more like a curse.

So begins the story of Poppy Koslowski. She's trying to recover from a hysterectomy, but her family has other ideas. She's the one with the legal right to call time on her alcoholic grandfather in North Carolina. So she's dragged back across the country from her rebuilt life into the bosom of a family who barely notice the old man's imminent death.

Poppy understands why her grandfather is dying alone. She remembers how his drinking terrorized his family. But she also remembers the man who made her feel worthwhile and wanted after her parents' marriage collapsed, a time when she felt like she was dying alone.

Plunged into a crazy kaleidoscope of consulting doctors, catching fire with an old flame, and negotiating lunch venues with her mother and grandmother, Poppy still manages to fall in love. With her best friend. Because nothing in the Koslowski family is ever straightforward.

Joan Opyr brings a wry insight to the absurdity and devotion that holds families together. Her first novel Idaho Code was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and won a Golden Crown Literary Award. Opyr lives in Idaho.

Joan Opyr lives in Moscow, Idaho. Under the pen name Auntie Establishment, she writes a monthly humor column for Moscow's Community News in which she takes on the most vital social issues of our day, from gay marriage (she's for it) to wearing low-rise jeans (which she thinks ought to be a criminal offense punishable by up to five years working as a plumber). A graduate of North Carolina State University, Joan has a BA and an MA in English and is ABD for the PhD from The Ohio State University. Joan has taught composition and literature, worked as a technical writer, a library acquisitions supervisor, and a freelance book reviewer. Her most stressful job to date was a stint writing wedding and engagement announcements for The News & Observer, North Carolina's largest daily newspaper; hell hath no fury like a Southern bride whose name has been spelled incorrectly.