BESTSELLING AND AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR: Ali Benjamin is the author of The Thing About Jellyfish, which was an international bestseller, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and was optioned for a film in development with Reese Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard.

THE DEBUT ADULT NOVEL by the bestselling YA author.

TIMELY SUBJECT: Polarizing social and political stresses on an ordinary family: an activist women’s group outraged about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a distracted wife, a hyperactive daughter, a husband left out—and what is that millennial babysitter really doing there?

BOOK CLUB THEMES: Themes of family, love, identity, marriage, and sexual and financial challenges in an age of political unrest, social reset, male confusion, and feminist empowerment.

SPELLBINDING STORY, WRITING, AND VOICE: The smash-up of values today, captured with humor, insight, elegance, and a sense of the absurd.

Ali Benjamin is the author of the young adult novel The Thing About Jellyfish, an international bestseller and a National Book Award finalist. The Next Great Paulie Fink was named a top children’s book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, the New York Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library. Her work has been published in more than twenty-five languages in more than thirty countries. Originally from the New York City area, she now lives in Massachusetts. This is her first adult novel.

Author Residence: Berkshires, Massachusetts

Author Hometown: Berkshires, Massachusetts

“Sharply funny, perceptive, and surprising at every turn, The Smash-Up is a story that’s acid-etched and full of heart. Ali Benjamin is Edith Wharton with fresh eyes.”—Amy Bloom, New York Times bestselling author of White Houses

“A contemporary reflection on power and sex…Benjamin’s immediately engaging writing captures the complicated emotions and biting humor of these bruising times and their impact on relationships.”—Booklist