Elinor Lipman

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift Elinor Lipman

Meet poor Alice Thrift, surgical intern in a Boston hospital, high of IQ but low in social graces. She doesn't mean to be acerbic, clinical, or painfully precise, but where was she the day they taught Bedside Manner 101? Into Alice's workaholic and romantically challenged life comes Ray Russo, a purveyor of fairground fudge, in need of rhinoplasty and well-heeled companionship, not necessarily in that order. Is he a con man or a sincere suitor? Good guy or bad? His well-engineered cruise into carnal waters introduces Alice to a new and baffling concept, chemistry-and not of the organic kind. Is it possible for a woman of science to cure her own loneliness in the unsuitable arms of a parental nightmare? Luckily, Leo Frawley, RN, who has a high threshold for Alice's left-footed people skills, and Sylvie Schwartz, MD, fellow resident and woman of the world, take on the task of guiding Alice through the narrow straits of her own no-rapport zone.