"Reading [this book] is like driving down the road with a companion who is so smart and funny and insightful that her conversation transforms the landscape" (Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Thousand Acres).   The twelve "meticulously observed" stories of Women and Children First showcase New York Times–bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Francine Prose at her finest—offering a glimpse into the lives of men and women searching for connection and meaning in a world that often seems pre-programmed for absurdity ( The New York Times).   An adult daughter struggling to understand her father's newfound Hasidic faith, an alcoholic trying to improve himself by fasting, a housewife enrolled in the New Consciousness Academy, a French literature professor who's begun to fear Madame Bovary, and a young woman seeking direction from a Tibetan master in the company of neurotic, overeager followers—these are the achingly, hilariously real people who inhabit these "wise and witty" stories ( Minneapolis Star-Tribune).