Wednesday, February 22     7:30 PM
MEREDITH MARAN        A THEORY OF SMALL EARTHQUAKES
in what is sure to be a wild and crazy conversation with     
TERRY McMILLAN    (Waiting to Exhale; Getting to Happy)

In her ten previous nonfiction books, Meredith Maran has trained her journalistic eye
on the subtle dance between the political and the personal. Now Maran brings
her provocative gaze to her debut novel -- a very Berkeley family story spanning
two decades, set against the social, political, and geological upheavals of the Bay Area.

Eager to escape her damaging past and chart her own future,
Alison Rose is powerfully drawn to Zoe, a free-spirited artist who offers emotional stability
and a love outside the norm. After many happy years together, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
deepens fissures in the two women’s relationship, and Alison leaves Zoe for a new, “normal” life
with a man. Alison’s son is the outcome of both of these complicated relationships, and the three
parents strive to create a life together that will test the boundaries of love and family in changing times.

 “A smart, sexy, funny, wrenching, delicious story of lust and trust and love and family."   
-- Anne Lamott, author of Imperfect Birds and Bird by Bird

 “A Theory Of Small Earthquakes teaches us something new about love and sex, jealousy and loyalty, and also, and perhaps most importantly, motherhood. Meredith Maran’s first novel is a powerful debut that left me waiting impatiently for her second.” -- Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road and Bad Mother

"Funny, lively, political, personal, nostalgic, touching, A Theory of Small Earthquakes deftly chronicles love and its various meanings. I enjoyed it greatly."  -- Meg Wolitzer, author of The Uncoupling and The Ten-Year Nap 

“In this groundbreaking novel, Meredith Maran has told a story few writers, if any, have explored:  of a woman drawn to two lovers and two distinct worlds, and of the unlikely family she creates, with two extraordinarily different partners, each of whom speaks to a different aspect of her desire. With rare honesty and courage, Maran asks us to consider whether sexuality can be defined by preference for one gender or the other, or if it is shifting and sometimes stormy as the tides.” -- Joyce Maynard, author of The Good Daughters and At Home in the World

 “Meredith Maran has a keen eye for the universal truths of the human condition that transcends all boundaries, whether gender or sexual, and plots a story that will have the reader eager to turn the pages to find out how Alison Rose chooses to live her life..”
-- Lalita Tademy, author of the Oprah’s Book Club selection Cane River

Meredith Maran is the award-winning Oakland author of several nonfiction books including My Lie, Class Dismissed, and What It’s Like to Live Now. She reviews books and writes for magazines and newspapers including People, Salon, More, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Boston Globe. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, she's the mother of two grown sons and new grandmother of one rapidly growing grandson. A Theory of Small Earthquakes, just out now from Berkeley publisher Counterpoint Press,  is her first novel.

 Terry McMillan was introduced to literature while shelving books at the Port Huron (Michigan) library. A graduate of UC Berkeley, she is the author of Mama, Waiting to Exhale (a Doubleday New Voices in Fiction award-winner and the basis of the wildly successful and multiple award-winning film of the same name); How Stella Got Her Groove Back, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, The Interruption of Everything, It’s Okay If You’re Clueless and 23 More Tips for the College Bound, and the most recent Getting to Happy, the sequel to Waiting to Exhale.

Wednesday, February 22 at the Hillside Club (2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley)  
reception 6:30 – 7:15 PM; general seating from 7:15 PM

Tickets:    The Big One -- $25, includes wine/nibbles reception 6:30 – 7:15 PM with Maran and McMillan,
seat, and one signed copy of A Theory of Small Earthquakes

 The Tremor -- $15, general seating at 7:15 PM

 Available at Brown Paper Tickets online or 800-838-3006