Melissa Bank's debut, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, was a literary landmark and a runaway bestseller. Now, in The Wonder Spot, she reminds us why she has been compared to John Cheever and Raymond Carver. Shaped by Bank's trademark blend of emotional depth and wry humor, The Wonder Spot traces the coming-of-age of Sophie, black sheep of the Applebaum family of Surrey, Pennsylvania. As we follow her from the sweet bewildering moments of adolescence through the rigors of life and love in New York City, we are treated to a profoundly intelligent, page-turning triumph that confirms Melissa Bank's reputation as a singular talent.
In the end Sophie never finds the perfect job or the perfect boyfriend, but she finds a way to have perfect moments as often as she can. The material, now and again, may be overworked, but it is, after all, the stuff of life, and Melissa Bank has made it the stuff of a marvelous novel.