Judith Rossner Books in Order

Ruth Kossoff wants both love and the wealth that could free her from her family’s tenement. Choosing a prosperous marriage over David Landau does not end her desire for him, and she risks her new security by reaching back toward the past.

Pregnant Margaret Adams leaves her husband on his stolen motorcycle and encounters a young hitchhiker who leads her to a Vermont commune. Among its residents, she discovers new possibilities and difficulties in the family one chooses for oneself.

Schoolteacher Theresa Dunn pursues independence from a strict Catholic upbringing through the singles bars of 1970s New York. Her search for intimacy without attachment draws her into increasingly dangerous encounters, exposing the risks beneath her apparent freedom.

Two close friends become involved with conjoined twins, creating relationships whose emotional bonds are as difficult to separate as their physical ones. Love, jealousy, dependence, and sexual desire test the limits of friendship and individual freedom.

Before her fourteenth birthday, Emmeline Mosher leaves her family’s Maine farm to work in a Massachusetts cotton mill. Thrust into the demands of an industrial town, she enters a love affair whose consequences reach far beyond her youthful expectations.

College freshman Dawn Henley enters analysis with Dr. Lulu Shinefeld, beginning a relationship that unfolds over five years. As Dawn’s painful childhood emerges, patient and therapist navigate very different personal struggles, each changed by their work together.

The four daughters of Hollywood producer Sam Pearlstein grow into very different women. When one sister publishes a successful novel and is sued for libel, the family confronts conflicting memories, loyalties, and the difficult bonds between parents and children.

Chef Caroline Ferrante’s career is gaining momentum when her estranged teenage daughter returns home. Olivia’s anger and the influence of Caroline’s former husband complicate their reunion, forcing her to balance motherhood with new professional and romantic possibilities.

Maddy longs for affection from her glamorous mother, Anita, who devotes her attention to men, alcohol, and a new baby. When Anita’s boyfriend dies of an overdose, their already hostile and dependent relationship becomes increasingly dangerous.