Small Changes

Two unforgettable women see their lives change in unimaginable ways in this captivating novel spanning the explosion of feminism in the 1960s Growing up, Beth always dreamed of her wedding day. But a few months into her marriage to Jim, whose affection she once clung to desperately, she realizes she didn't anticipate life beyond the altar. Jim spends his nights out drinking with his buddies and criticizes every meal Beth cooks, and the only solution her family suggests is to have a baby--which she knows would trap her in this miserable life forever. So she takes matters into her own hands and flees to Boston. There she meets Miriam, an ambitious computer science PhD candidate who nonetheless gives up her career for an unfulfilling marriage. Alongside a cast of intellectuals, budding feminists, and political activists, Beth and Miriam find themselves rapidly evolving as they are swept up in the tumultuous social upheaval of the sixties. Experimenting with relationships and sexuality, and taking a stand for women's rights and against the Vietnam War, they learn to trust their instincts and lean on each other. Small Changes is a glimmering example of bestselling author Marge Piercy's knack for capturing the authentic struggles and desires of contemporary women with clarity and compassion.

About the Author :
Marge Piercy (b. 1936) is the author of nineteen poetry collections, including The Hunger Moon and Made in Detroit, and seventeen novels, including the New York Times bestseller Gone to Soldiers and He, She and It, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction. She has also written a memoir, Sleeping with Cats; a collection of short stories, The Cost of Lunch, Etc.; and five nonfiction books. A champion of feminism, antiwar, and ecological movements, Piercy often includes political themes in her work and features strong female characters who challenge traditional gender roles. Her book of poetry The Moon Is Always Female is considered a seminal feminist text. Piercy's other works include Woman on the Edge of Time, The Longings of Women, and City of Darkness, City of Light. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, radio personality and author Ira Wood, with whom she cowrote the novel Storm Tide.

Review :
"Beautiful, inspiring, realistic, essential." --The Boston Phoenix "[Small Changes] has a wonderful generosity of detail, tone and character; it has the range and inclusiveness of old-fashioned fiction yet its insights are radical. I have never seen so lucidly represented the differences between what women and men want out of sex, conversation, relationships of all kinds." --Adrienne Rich "Small Changes speaks to the totality of a woman's experience and as such is unquestionably unique. . . . One must feel gratitude for the amity and emotional intensity of the intimate human concerns in this passionately life-oriented novel." --The Washington Post Praise for Marge Piercy "Here is somebody with the guts to go into the deepest core of herself, her time, her history, and risk more than anybody else has so far, just out of a love for the truth and a need to tell it. It's about time." --Thomas Pynchon on Dance the Eagle to Sleep "One of the most important writers of our time." --Erica Jong "Reading a book by Marge Piercy is like sitting around a warm inviting fire with old friends: You know you will be entertained, hopefully you will be amused, and if you dare to invest in yourself, you will certainly learn something." --The Indianapolis Star