The Fallback Plan

Just graduated from college, Esther Kohler’s post-graduate plans include: returning to her parents’ house, taking old prescription tranquilizers, hanging out with Jack, her unrequited high school crush, and re-reading her favorite children’s books.But Esther’s parents decide she should do something— anything—while mulling her future. So they volunteer her to work as a nanny for their neighbors, the Browns.It’s a tricky assignment: six months earlier, the Browns’ youngest child had died. Still, as Esther finds herself falling in love with their surviving daughter May, she’s impressed by how well they seem to be coping. And as Esther and her old high school flame resume a confusing relationship, she finds it easier to escape to the Browns' house.Soon, though, she finds herself assuming the role of mother to May, confidante to May’s mother Amy, and partner in crime to Amy’s husband Nate.... And when these conflicting alliances inevitably collide, Esther is forced to create her own definition of who she really is.Both witty and heartbreaking, The Fallback Plan is a beautifully written and moving story of what we must leave behind, and what we manage to hold on to, as we navigate the treacherous terrain between youth and adulthood.