Before Their Time: A Memoir

I am one of those readers who devours an engaging novel and puts one that does not capture my interest down after the first few pages. These surprising and moving stories about quirky, real characters had my interest from page one. True that these are separate stories but to me the building itself is a character that holds it all together as a novel--and the same characters emerge at different times from different points of... Read Full Review

I couldn't put this book down, eager to see what the characters would do next. It is a story told with humor, and edgy social insight but also with deep humanity. The residents of an Upper East side apartment building are drawn in authentic strokes but are not stereotypes. We know their shortcomings but also their unique flavors. Read it and enjoy!

980 Park Avenue sets the scene for three decades of dramatic and touching stories. Each apartment is a different reality depicted with wit, generosity and a disarming authenticity I found very appealing and explicit. You will feel the reality of these stories, the quality and serious substance, doesn't go unnoticed here. The people are real and the ironic touch of fate keeps them closer than they realize. This is a gem, you... Read Full Review

Books that explore class difference in America are usually heavy, depressing and pedantic. Better Homes and Husbands is a delightful departure. Set in one of the great old apartment buildings on Park Avenue in New York City, the novel takes us into the lives of those who live there and those who work there, from the baroness in the penthouse all the way down to the illegal Guatemalans hidden in a bedroom in one of the grand... Read Full Review

I didn't exactly grow up in the world (the haves and have mores) depicted in Better Homes and Husbands, but I grew up adjacent to it-certainly close enough to marvel at Valerie Ann Leff's ability to x-ray the lives and loves, illusions and delusions of a certain caste of moneyed New Yorkers who inhabit one of Park Avenue's storied addresses (albeit a fictional one). Valerie's talent for observation is flawless, and her prose... Read Full Review