The First Bad Man

The instant _New York Time_s bestseller is “astonishing…In onenovel, Miranda July tells us more about our universal need to beloved, and our ability to love and be loved, than most earthboundauthors will in a lifetime” (Vanity Fair).In The First Bad Man, Miranda July tells the story ofCheryl, a vulnerable, uptight woman in her early forties who livesalone, with a perpetual lump in her throat, unable to cry. Cherylis haunted by a baby boy she met when she was six; she alsobelieves she has a profound connection with Phillip, a philanderingboard member at Open Palm, the women’s self-defense studio whereshe has worked for twenty years.When Cheryl’s bosses ask if their twenty-one-year-old daughterClee can move into her house for a little while, Cheryl’seccentrically ordered world explodes. And yet it is Clee—theselfish, cruel blond bombshell—who teaches Cheryl what it means tolove and be loved and, inadvertently, provides the solace of alifetime.This is a spectacularly original, unsettling, accomplished, andmoving first novel with a tender and beguiling happy ending.