When We Were Bad: A Novel

Description

Claudia Rubin is in her heyday. Wife, mother, rabbi and sometime moral voice of the nation, it is she whom everyone wants to be with at her older son's glorious February wedding. Until Leo becomes a bolter and the heyday of the Rubin family begins to unravel... His calm, married, more mature sister, Frances, tries to hold the centre together but the stresses, for Frances, force her to re-examine her own middle way and lead to a decision as shocking in its way as Leo's has been. Meanwhile, Claudia's husband Norman has, uncharacteristically, a secret to hide - a secret whose imminent unveiling he can do nothing about... A warm, poignant and true portrayal of a London family in crisis, in love, in denial and - ultimately - in luck.

Charlotte Mendelson was born in 1972 and grew up in Oxford. She was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2004. Charlotte lives in London with her family.

"[Mendelson] is a keen observer ... she deftly blends humor and pathos in this portrayal of a family in crisis."