“I wrote this for Alice. Actually, I wrote everything for Alice.” This was Calvin Trillin’s dedication to the first novel he wrote after his wife’s death in 2001. About Alice is a love letter to his wife. She was a character in his New Yorker articles and books where she felt she was portrayed as “a dietitian in sensible shoes.” In fact, Alice was a stylish woman who was a mother, writer, educator, and Trillin’s ultimate editor. Alice “believed in the transformative power of pure, undiluted love,” according to Trillin. Trillin’s love for her resonates in his funny and touching memories. In a letter to Trillin, a woman, pondering her relationship with her boyfriend, muses, “But will he love me like Calvin loves Alice?”

Reviewed by Megan M., Main Library

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