The Not Wives by Carley Moore

Set in Occupy-era New York City, this novel follows sex-positive awakening and burgeoning political resistance in the lives of three women: A provocative and well-told story about chosen community, friendship, and human frailty" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

The Not Wives traces the lives of three women as they navigate the Occupy Wall Street movement and each other. Stevie is a nontenured professor and recently divorced single mom; her best friend Mel is a bartender, torn between her long-term girlfriend and her desire to explore polyamory; and Johanna is a homeless teenager trying to find her way in the world, who bears shared witness to a tragedy that interlaces her life with Stevie's.

In the midst of economic collapse and class conflict, late-night hookups and long-suffering exes, the three characters piece together a new American identity founded on resistance--against the looming shadow of financial precarity, the gentrification of New York, and the traditional role of wife.

"The Not Wives is gritty, sexy, very queer, literary social realism that's up-all-night compelling--just what I want from a novel set in NYC in the time of Occupy, with its sprawling cast of adjuncts, bartenders, poets, single parents, little kids, homeless teenagers, and serious organizers embroiled in various romantic and economic complications. When we say report back, this is what we mean!" --Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Paperback / 368 pages