In the Age of Love — Michael Stein

Jonathan Parrish has been invited to give a lecture at the National Education Association conference in New Orleans, an honor that as a teacher he can t refuse. When he glances at the attendee list, he finds Lily Mayeux's name. They haven t seen each other in twelve years. When it had ended abruptly with her, he knew he was responsible; he had made a mistake. When Lily hears the message on her hotel room phone inviting her to lunch in New Orleans, she knows she will have a lot to think about if she doesn't face Jonathan, doesn t sit across from him in a matter-of-fact way for a voluntary, controlled, poignant hour. If she actively tries to avoid him, she will feel silly and juvenile and it will ruin these few days away from her husband and son. Eight years younger than Jonathan, she has always been a little scared of him; she wants to prove this fear was ridiculous now that she is a 35-year-old woman.

Told in the alternating, distinctive voices of Jonathan and Lily, In the Age of Love is a novel of anticipation, regret, desire, and the acute awareness of time passing. When former lovers are thrown together by surprising chance, can the power of memory lift away reality? As Lily asks herself, Have I reassumed an old identity or have I been transformed in preparation of beginning another life?

In the Age of Love offers best-selling author Michael Stein's startlingly intimate exploration of the images and remembered moments that cross our minds and which we can t shake off when part of the past returns.