"Searingly smart and exquisitely written, Halverson’s knockout debut limns family, marriage and a custody battle in a way that gets under your skin and leaves you changed. To say I loved this book would be an understatement." ~ Caroline Leavitt

THE UNDERSIDE OF JOY by Sere Prince Halverson

"Halverson's debut novel marks her as a strong new voice in women's fiction. Three years after the death of her husband, young widow Ella Beene looks back at the joy of her early married life with the recognition that the most genuine happiness cannot be so pure, so deep, or so blind. What she has failed to see is that Joe might not have been completely honest about what went wrong with his first marriage. As the loving stepmother to his two children, Ella suddenly finds herself vulnerable to a custody suit from their mother, Paige. In addition, the Italian grocery business that Joe's family has run for decades in the quaint town of Elbow, California, is about to go under, and Ella must find a way to make a living. Halverson tells a complex story in agile prose, but her tale is awash in a full-throated emotionalism that aligns her more with Elizabeth Berg than the more nuanced Anita Shreve." ~ Booklist