• McCafferty’s short story collection, The Director of the World and Other Stories, was the winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize for short fiction.

In her first novel, One Heart, Jane McCafferty explored the fragile bonds between sisters. Now, in First You Try Everything, she turns her sharp, sympathetic eye to husband and wife, illuminating the emotional ripples caused by divorce, as love’s loss and the death of dreams push a woman to the far edge of sanity.

From their early days in college, Evvie and Ben were drawn together by feelings of isolation from wounded childhoods, a passionate idealism, and a love of music. Sheltered by their love, they withstood the foibles and frailties of the imperfect world around them. But as the years have passed, a gulf has grown between them. While Evvie clings tightly to bohemian notions and the freedom of an alternative lifestyle, Ben enjoys heading to the office in a suit and tie and being part of the mainstream. He has set his sights on a different kind of future—alone, or with someone else.

Convinced that Ben cannot live without her, Evvie begins to unravel, obsessively devising ways to breach their separation. Desperate to reclaim the love she cannot let go, she gambles on a spectacularly hair-brained and dangerous scheme that will have devastating consequences for them both.

Told from alternating viewpoints, this emotionally gripping, psychologically astute novel is an intimate portrait of a marriage that illuminates the power of love to define and transform our lives.