In this moving, wry, and candid novel, widely acclaimed novelist Ayelet Waldman takes us through one woman's passage through love, loss, and the strange absurdities of modern life.<br><br>Emilia Greenleaf believed that she had found her soulmate, the man she was meant to spend her life with. But life seems a lot less rosy when Emilia has to deal with the most neurotic and sheltered five-year-old in New York City: her new stepson William. Now Emilia finds herself trying to flag down taxis with a giant, industrial-strength car seat, looking for perfect, strawberry-flavored, lactose-free cupcakes, receiving corrections on her French pronunciation from her supercilious stepson – and attempting to find balance in a new family that's both larger, and smaller, than she bargained for. In <i>Love and Other Impossible Pursuits</i> Ayelet Waldman has created a novel rich with humor and truth, perfectly characterizing one woman's search for answers in a crazily uncertain world.