PRAISE FOR SMALL WORLD

“The novel is as poignant as it is funny, as thought-provoking as it is witty, and searingly relatable.” — Washington Post

“Zigman's tenderly told novel is a realistic rendering of what it's like to care for and love a disabled child, and the toll that love takes on parents and siblings. It's also about the bonds that sisters share and how, in the case of the Mellishmans, unresolved grief nearly breaks them...[but] laced with the promise of a brighter future.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Zigman is terrific at melding heartbreaking situations with humorous, evocative details without once veering off into saccharine sentimentality…Zigman’s ability to elicit the transformative magic that happens when people find true connection with others makes these pages glow.”  — Boston Globe

"A graceful swan dive into the question of how a family rearranges itself after the death of a child…a brave and heartfelt book of truths." — New York Times Book Review

"Zigman's quirky novel confronts the most painful family issues and is equally knowing—and funny—about what brings comfort and grace." — People

“Entrancing. . . . Zigman does a stellar job of creating well-rounded characters, and a satisfying ending tops off her well-crafted paean to sisterhood. Readers will love this.” — Publishers Weekly (starred)

“A tender story of two sisters who, both in midlife and both recently divorced, move in together. . . A moving story about the power of family secrets, sisterhood, and memory. Readers of authors such as Jodi Picoult, Barbara Kingsolver, or Kristin Hannah will be affected by Zigman’s skillful and sensitive chronicling of a sisterhood simultaneously affected by the past and finding a new future.” — Booklist

"[Zigman] excels at depicting the emotional push and pull of sibling relationships. . . Yet she never loses her sharp sense of humor. . . A compassionate, often funny examination of shared family grief and love." — Kirkus

“Abundant humor. . . . Revolving around two middle-aged sisters who have recently been left by their husbands, Small World parses a bramble of secrets, hurts and other mainstays of the all-absorbing kin novel.”—Shelf Awareness

“Small World is a treasure: a family story that is wistful one moment, witty and wry the next. Few novelists write as beautifully about the damaged heart and the wounded soul as Laura Zigman, or understand the emotional bonds of siblings and sisters. I loved this novel.”
— Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant and The Lioness

“I absolutely loved Small World -- a wise, warm, and often hilarious exploration of sisterhood and community, set against a nuanced portrait of one family’s tragic past.” — Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

“Like all of Laura Zigman’s books, Small World is wryly funny and sharply observed. But this moving story of two adult sisters reconnecting in midlife also tackles some weighty subjects—family secrets, disability, abandonment—with unusual grace and sensitivity.” — Tom Perrotta, author of Tracy Flick Can’t Win

“A profound exploration of the depths and limits of unconditional love, Small World examines what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a sister, a person in the world. By turns hilarious and haunting, this is a novel for the ages.” — Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year

“Hilarious, wise and deeply moving--I loved my time with the Mellishman sisters and didn't want it to end. No one captures the tragicomedies of life quite like Laura Zigman, whose compassion and brilliance shines through on every page.” — Mona Awad, author of All's Well and Bunny

PRAISE FOR SEPARATION ANXIETY  

“A simple premise – a wife and mother starts, for lack of a better term, wearing her dog – gives way to an affecting, funny study of a slowly unraveling woman vying to course-correct.” —Entertainment Weekly

“Judy is in mid-life limbo: Her career as a children’s book author crashed and burned, her son has hit his obnoxious teens, and she can’t afford to divorce her pot-addled husband. Oh, and she’s taken to carrying the dog around with her in a baby sling, just to feel connected to something. A frank and funny portrait of the everyday anxieties we try so hard to hide.”   —USA Today

“Judy—mother of a bad teenager, wife to a bad husband, and friend to a dying woman—puts her dog in a sling and ties the sling around her torso, there to stay. Wouldn't you? Expect to laugh, cry, and tie a dog around yourself.” —Glamour

“A mother whose life begins to unravel takes comfort in wearing her dog around the house in an old baby sling. This hilarious and heartbreaking novel tackles the pressures of parenting and aging parents (hello, "sandwich generation") as well as complicated relationships and career angst. It just may make you happy-cry.” Good Morning America

“Zigman chronicles the downward spiral of a once-successful children’s book author whose life in midlife starts to erode—and so she does what? Inexplicably starts wearing the family dog in a BabyBjörn. Kirkus calls it “adept at Where’d You Go Bernadette–style snarkery.” —The Millions

“Self-help blogger Judy Vogel is in a serious rut. She can’t recapture the brief success she experienced as a children’s book author, her once-loving son is now a teen who wants nothing to do with her, her best friend is dying, and her marriage is falling apart. It’s almost too much to bear, so Judy finds an unusual, unsettling coping mechanism: She starts wearing her beloved dog in a baby sling. Zigman writes with warmth as well as a biting wit, poking fun at both her flawed protagonist and the upper-middle-class world in which she lives.”  —Buzzfeed

“Judy is unhappy with her life but can’t seem to find a way to get out of her routine. As everything begins to unravel, the mother and wife has started carrying her dog around in an old baby sling. And as she considers the direction everything is heading, she’ll have to determine what’s best for her future.” —Parade  

“A woman takes to “wearing” her family dog in a sling to deal with her increasingly untenable family life and friendships in this wonderfully weird, witty novel.” —Vogue

“Judy's career as a children's book author has tanked, her marriage is falling apart, her teenage son no longer treats her with the same affection, and her best friend is dying. The irony of all of it is that she's writing articles for a self-help website. But one day, while clearing the basement, she spots her son's old baby sling, and something snaps. She decides to carry the dog in the sling, and takes steps towards fixing her life.”   Parade: “Judy is unhappy with her life but can’t seem to find a way to get out of her routine. As everything begins to unravel, the mother and wife has started carrying her dog around in an old baby sling. And as she considers the direction everything is heading, she’ll have to determine what’s best for her future.”   —Cosmopolitan

“As middle-aged mom Judy’s life begins to unravel, she starts doing some, um, strange things – like putting her dog in her son’s old baby sling – in an attempt to right her ship. Separation Anxiety is a novel about insecurities and aging that early reviews are already calling sharp, but happy-cry-inducing.” —Real Simple  

“Separation Anxiety is a hilarious, heart-breaking and thought-provoking portrait of a difficult marriage, as fierce as it is funny....[Zigman’s] sharp eye for contemporary life is a revelation....My advice: Start reading and don’t stop until you get to the last page of this wise and wonderful novel.” —Alice Hoffman

“Sometimes a book finds its way to you and you just know instantly that this is the book you need now. That’s how I feel about Separation Anxiety. I think it’s the book everyone needs right now. It is compassionate and funny, articulating with gentle humor the terrible things that we’re all grappling with. To steal a phrase from my daughter, it made me happy-cry.” —Laura Lippman

“Separation Anxiety is as hilarious and painful as life itself. Laura Zigman’s latest novel takes on the (sometimes surreal) trials of middle age with wit and compassion—pitch-perfect, it’s a joy to read.” —Claire Messud

“I love Separation Anxiety.... Laura Zigman is an emotional sharp-shooter—she is able to home in on the most tender, revealing, exquisitely painful aspects of our relationships with others and with ourselves. And somehow she manages to come out the other end with hope, having found what was most meaningful after all. And by the way, I can totally relate to the desire to wear one’s dog. If I could, I would.” —Chelsea Handler

“What a gem of a novel. Separation Anxiety is wickedly funny, heartrending, poignantly wise, and hopeful. It’s laced with moments of self-doubt and marital mayhem, but also the many small daily acts of mercy and heroism that love inspires, though we too often overlook them. The main character, Judy, is hilariously offbeat, yet very easy to identify with, honest and thoughtful, and I loved spending time with her.” —Diane Ackerman

"In Separation Anxiety, Laura Zigman has given voice to the exquisite nuances of the struggles we all face in the course of our lives and at the same time leaves us feeling less alone and more hopeful. With striking humor, tender vulnerability, and pitch-perfect portraits of the complexities of our relationships, she's captured the human condition in a way I often don't see outside of the therapy room." —Lori Gottlieb