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  • The Misfortune of Marion Palm

  • A Novel
  • Written by: Emily Culliton
  • Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
  • Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 ratings)

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The Misfortune of Marion Palm

Written by: Emily Culliton
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
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Publisher's Summary

A wildly entertaining debut about a Brooklyn Heights wife and mother who has embezzled a small fortune from her children's private school and makes a run for it, leaving behind her trust fund poet husband, his maybe-secret lover, her two daughters, and a school board who will do anything to find her.

Marion Palm prefers not to think of herself as a thief but rather "a woman who embezzles". Over the years she has managed to steal $180,000 from her daughters' private school, money that has paid for European vacations, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, and perpetually unused state-of-the-art exercise equipment. But now, when the school faces an audit, Marion pulls piles of rubber-banded cash from their basement hiding places and flees, leaving her family to grapple with the baffled detectives, the irate school board, and the mother-shaped hole in their house. Told from the points of view of Nathan, Marion's husband, heir to a long-diminished family fortune; Ginny, Marion's teenage daughter who falls helplessly in love at the slightest provocation; Jane, Marion's youngest, who is obsessed with a missing person of her own; and Marion herself, on the lam - and hiding in plain sight.

©2017 Emily Culliton (P)2017 Random House Audio

What the critics say

"This debut novel has what many others lack: a wicked sense of humor. Verdict: With her mordant wit, deft plotting, and clever storytelling, Culliton is a young novelist to watch." (Leslie Patterson, Library Journal)
"[A] wonderful and sharp debut novel.... When Marion meets handsome, rich poet, Nathan Palm, she achieves a dream of financial security and stability. But reality is cruel and Nathan is not as wealthy as she thought...Culliton's prose is effortless and wickedly clever; its ability to condone and condemn in the most succinct way is a testament to the author's storytelling and characterization skills...Irresistible. This debut novel signals the arrival of an exciting talent." ( Publishers Weekly)

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