{"product_id":"sophie-standing-there","title":"Sophie, Standing There","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"So smart, so funny, so moving. Mason has done it again, this time using the behind-the-scenes mechanics at a literary festival to reveal the complexity of loneliness and how one woman attempts to dig herself out. I absolutely loved it.\" \u003cb\u003e--Bonnie Garmus, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eLessons in Chemistry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The lucky reader of \u003ci\u003eSophie, Standing There\u003c\/i\u003e peers at the world through Sophie's eyes, and wonders how her life shaped this view. When the answers are revealed--about her marriage, her childhood, the gaps in her understanding--we experience a kind of wholeness with her. Or at least the possibility of wholeness. I loved Sophie, and I love Meg Mason's brain and the strange, wonderful, funny stories she gives us.\" \u003cb\u003e--Ann Napolitano, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHello, Beautiful\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDear Edward\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eSophie, Standing There\u003c\/i\u003e unfolds like a strange origami crane in reverse--so achingly tender and so brilliantly subtle that I could never put it down. The loneliness of our inner world and the quiet movement towards connection--nobody evokes it as breathtakingly as Meg Mason. And by 'it, ' I guess I mean simply \u003ci\u003ebeing a person. \u003c\/i\u003eDazzling.\" \u003cb\u003e--Catherine Newman, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eWreck \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eSandwich\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eSophie, Standing There \u003c\/i\u003eis a moving examination of what it means to be alone in the world, and what it means to find connection. It is, by turns, heartbreaking, hilarious, and deeply hopeful. Meg Mason is a dazzling talent.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--Ann Patchett, award-winning and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eTom Lake \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eBel Canto\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I loved this book . . . funny and as endearing as a good friend.\" --\u003cb\u003eBarbara Kingsolver, on \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Witty and affecting.\" \u003cb\u003e--David Nicholls, author of \u003ci\u003eYou Are Here\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eOne Day\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Completely brilliant. I loved it. I think every girl and woman should read it.\" \u003cb\u003e--Gillian Anderson, on \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A quiet and achingly beautiful love story. . . . LOVED it. Masterfully written. And powerful.\" \u003cb\u003e--Elin Hilderbrand, on \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A truly comic novel about love and the despair of depression. It's a rare and beautiful thing when an author can break your heart with humor; it's also the quality I admire most in a writer.\" --\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times Book Review, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eon \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Improbably charming . . . will have you chortling and reading lines aloud.\" \u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A truly comic novel about love and the despair of depression. It's a rare and beautiful thing when an author can break your heart with humor; it's also the quality I admire most in a writer.\" \u003cb\u003e--Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of\u003ci\u003e The Nest \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eGood Company\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Meg Mason is back with another introspective, heartfelt read.\" \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e- People \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Heartwarming, tender and so funny, \u003ci\u003eSophie, Standing There\u003c\/i\u003e is a wonderful, bittersweet story of what it means to be truly, achingly lonely. I loved it.\" \u003cb\u003e--Gillian Anderson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A funny, poignant, quirky look at the entrancing nature of a parasocial relationship. I love Meg Mason's sharpness and humour, she is the queen of the pithy one liner that stops you in your tracks.\" \u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmma Gannon, author of \u003ci\u003eOlive \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eTable for One\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Truly inspired and original.\" \u003cb\u003e--Esther Freud, author of \u003ci\u003eLove Falls \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eMy Sister and Other Lovers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"It's raw, it's massively sad; it's hilariously funny and so epigrammatic that after writing down the novel's pithily astute phrases, I realised I was almost writing out the whole book\" \u003cb\u003e--Barbara Trapido, author of \u003ci\u003eBrother of the More Famous Jack\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"So smart, so funny, so moving. I absolutely loved it.\"\u003c\/b\u003e--\u003cb\u003eBonnie Garmus, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLessons in Chemistry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe \"brilliant\" (Ann Patchett) and much beloved author of the critically acclaimed \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss\u003c\/i\u003e returns with a tender and hilarious novel about heartbreak and the journey from isolation and loneliness towards love.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSophie Pattison loves books. And as well as a dream job at a local book festival, she has a husband she adores, a lifelong best friend, Emma, and a brother she's always been close to. Which makes you wonder why since Christmas Sophie has been living alone, estranged from Emma, avoiding her brother, and about to be fired.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow it feels like the only thing she has left is reading. When Sophie re-discovers an author she first read in her twenties, the words on the page reach her in a new way--becoming both solace and company. Sophie devours every one of the author's novels and begins to dream of meeting her, but knows they never will. But what if she did? What if, by then, the author feels like a friend? What if, for Sophie, it feels almost like love?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this much anticipated novel, Meg Mason captures the heartache and dark humor of our relationships in all their complexity, with a story about the power of connection and an ode to the inexplicable nature of the human heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 pg. 114 (EAN 9780063493131, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eMason, Meg\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMeg Mason\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eSorrow and Bliss, \u003c\/i\u003e which became an international bestseller after it was first published in Australia. Winner of the British Book Industry Book of the Year, and shortlisted for the Women's Prize, it has since been translated into more than 30 languages. Her first career was in journalism, beginning at the \u003ci\u003eTimes of London\u003c\/i\u003e, later writing for \u003ci\u003eVogue, Elle, GQ, Sunday Style, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e's Daily Shouts and Murmurs. Born in New Zealand, she lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496220623126,"sku":"9780063493131","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780063493131.jpg?v=1783057706","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/sophie-standing-there","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}