All the Right Mistakes - A Novel

Laura Jamison

Summary

Five college friends have arrived at forty in very different circumstances, but with at least one thing in common: they are among the more privileged in society. Elizabeth and Sara are lawyers, Martha is a doctor, Carmen is a wealthy and well-educated homemaker, and Heather, the most successful, is a famous tech executive—and after more than two decades of friendship, they know one another better than anyone.



Then Heather writes a women’s advice book detailing the key life “mistakes” of her four friends—opting out, ramping off, giving half effort, and forgetting your fertility—that becomes wildly popular, and Elizabeth, Sara, Martha, and Carmen all feel the sting of Heather’s cruel words. Despite their status, these women face everyday obstacles, including work problems, parenting challenges, secondary infertility, racism, sexism, financial stress, and marital woes—and as they weather their fortieth year, each one can’t help but wonder if their life might have been different if they had followed Heather’s advice.



But as these friends are continually reminded, life is complex, messy, disappointing, and joyful, often all at once—and no one can plan her way out of that reality. In the end, all five women must embrace the idea that their lives are shaped not just by their choices but also by how they handle the obstacles life inevitably throws at us all.

Available since: 08/04/2020.

2 Comments

24symbols EN

This is the story about five women in their early forties who managed to stay friends since college. All of them are mothers and each has found her own way of juggling motherhood and work. When Heather, the most successful of the five in her career, publishes a book that analyses the key life “mistakes” of her friends, the friendship is at risk and the women start questioning their choices.

As the title suggests, this book considers mistakes not as something generally bad. Instead it argues that mistakes are necessary to find out who we are. How do we deal with the obstacles that we are faced with? There is no perfect plan to architect your life, no straight road to success. We get to know four different approaches to motherhood and work-life balance. Even though the author tends to explain too much, this is a great take on the different ways life can work out for you. Discover more book recommendations on https://www.24symbols.com/24stories/en/the-best-books-of-the-moment/
24symbols EN

This book was featured as one of the best books of the moment. Have a look at our Magazine to discover our best books of the moment, a handpicked and periodically updated selection of the books you simply cannot miss: https://www.24symbols.com/24stories/en/the-best-books-of-the-moment/

About the author

Laura Jamison

Laura Jamison is an attorney from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband and their four children. When she is not practicing law or writing, she is driving her kids to one of...

Other books that might interest you

Divine Space Gods III: Rangda's...

Martin Lundqvist

When the Divine Plan is stupid, humanity’s future is at stake.
Due to an unfortunate calendar mistake, the Divine Plan faces a hiccup. Instead of giving birth to the Chosen One, the Martian Rebel Keila Eisenstein unleashes the evil Space Demon Rangda Kaliankan and her army of man-eating Xenos upon humankind.
“Fortunately”, The True Maker, the supreme deity of the Milky Way Galaxy, has a plan for dealing with the new threat. To convince Keila’s ex Metatron to find a surrogate mother for his and Keila’s unborn embryo, so the Chosen One can be born and sort out the mess that the True Maker caused. Six months later, Sabina is born.
Meanwhile, the new German leader, Hilda Muller realises how to save Earth from the Xeno invasion. Since the Germans haven’t won a war in a millennium, she bribes the Xeno invaders with copious quantities of German beer, which saves Earth. Because of Hilda’s grand plan, she is promoted to planetary leader.
Having failed to invade Earth, Rangda comes up with a new plan. She allies with the Martian Madman Melchior Dorevitch and his cannibal army. Together they defeat Rangda’s ancient enemies the Zetans. After this, Rangda, and Melchior begins an odyssey around the Milky Way looking for the magical plot devices, the Zeto Crystals.
Eventually, Rangda has all the Zeto Crystals, and Sabina, as the Chosen One, has to face Rangda. But there is an issue… Sabina hasn’t trained and doesn’t seem very keen to carry out the Divine Plan.
In the end, only a miracle can save us!

Show book

There's No Such Thing as an Easy...

Kikuko Tsumura

A young woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that has the following traits: it’s close to her home, and it requires no reading, no writing, and, ideally, very little thinking. Her first gig—watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods—turns out to be inconvenient. (When can she go to the bathroom?) Her next gives way to the supernatural: announcing advertisements for shops that mysteriously disappear. As she moves from job to job—writing trivia for rice cracker packages and punching entry tickets to a purportedly haunted public park—it becomes increasingly apparent that she's not searching for the easiest job at all but something altogether more meaningful. But when she finally discovers an alternative to the daily grind, it comes with a price. This is the first time work by Kikuko Tsumura—winner of Japan's most prestigious literary award—has been translated into English. There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job is as witty as it is unsettling—a jolting look at the maladies of late capitalist life through the unique and fascinating lens of modern Japanese culture.

Show book

The Complete Brigadier Gerard -...

Arthur Conan Doyle

These charming adventures of the 19th century French brigadier by the creator of Sherlock Holms are “unjustly forgotten tales by a great master” (Michael Chabon).   Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his immortal character Sherlock Holmes, his tales of comic adventure featuring Brigadier Etienne Gerard, a French cavalry officer in the tine of the Napoleonic Wars, were equally beloved in their day. An old man who has retired in Paris, Gerard now recounts his escapades of younger days. In Napoleon’s service, he fights battles, breaks hearts, and confounds the English all across Europe. This volume collects all of Doyle’s Brigadier Gerard stories, originally published in The Strand Magazine between 1894 and 1903.   In The Complete Brigadier Gerard Stories “you will find adventure, action, romance, love and self-sacrifice, hair's-breadth escape and reckless courage, gallantry, panache and a droll, backhand humor that rivals that of P.G. Wodehouse. You will also find yourself, even more than with the celebrated stories of Holmes and Watson, in the hands of an indisputable artist. For more than any other adventure stories I know, these stories have a power to move the reader… unjustly forgotten tales by a great master" (Michael Chabon for NPR's You Must Read This).  "The Brigadier Gerard stories display all the narrative gusto of Doyle's more famous Sherlock Holmes, together with an irresistible warmth and humor."—Philip Pullman

Show book

10 Short Stories Volume 1

Martin Lundqvist

This Anthology contains the following short stories:The Dinner at Darkwood MansionKeila halts the Terran drug smugglers in the year 2869.Daydreaming in the shoe shop.The Escargot Conspiracy.How I met your mother (and almost got arrested for murder).The Snailkeeper at Lupusserra.The Cathedral Date.The Clinic Murders.The Golden Duck Dinner. The Escape from the Tang Emperor.

Show book

Uncle John's Unsinkable Bathroom...

Institute Bathroom Readers'

An all-new collection overflowing with weird facts and wild stories!   Uncle John and his crack staff of writers are back—and still at the top of their game after all these years. Where else but in an Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader could you find out about . . .   the tapeworm diet * forty-four things to do with a coconut * the history of the Comstock Lode * seven (underwater) places to see before you die * medical miracles (and medical horrors) * the godfather of fitness * high-tech underwear * the CSI effect * and much more!

Show book

Man Seeking Woman - And Other...

Simon Rich

In "Center of the Universe," God struggles to balance the demands of his career with the needs of his long-term girlfriend. In "Magical Mr. Goat," a young girl's imaginary friend yearns to become "more than friends." In "Unprotected," an unused prophylactic recalls his years spent trapped inside a teen boy's wallet. The stories in Simon Rich's new audiobook are bizarre, funny, and yet...relatable. Rich explores love's many complications-losing it, finding it, breaking it, and making it-and turns the ordinary into the absurd. With razor-sharp humor and illustrations, and just in time for Valentine's Day, Rich takes listeners for an exhilarating, hilarious ride on the rollercoaster of love.

Show book