Critical Praise

"Elisabeth Robinson's heartfelt and hilarious debut is a story to treasure. Sisters everywhere will rejoice in the beautifully drawn characters of Olivia and Maddie, who are so real, you swear you know them upon first meeting. And like true sisters, you never want to let them go. I loved it!"

——-Adriana Trigiani, author of Lucia, Lucia

"The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters does a hard thing: it makes tragedy funny. And it does a much harder thing: it makes illness interesting. Elisabeth Robinson's epistolary odyssey renders up ruthless Hollywood and the forgiving Midwest with pathos, precision, and unfailing wit."

——-Jennifer Egan, author of Look at Me

"Hollywood and terminal illness are equally treacherous subjects for the novelist. Like a latter-day Quixote, Elisabeth Robinson has taken on both in her first novel, and succeeded brilliantly. Smart, stubborn, and independent to a fault, Olivia Hunt is one of the more memorable women in recent fiction. Robinson's tough-minded compassion and her wit make The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by turns hilarious and deeply moving."

——-Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City

"A wrenching, tragi-comic first novel....moving but never maudlin, this is an accomplished debut."

——-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Likely to be the first literary surprise of 2004....Tough, tender, and tearful, The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters helps us make sense of it all."

——-Lev Grossman, Time

"Elisabeth Robinson's book . . . will have you speed-dialing your best friend to share this great read."

——Marie Claire's "10 Best to Do" section

"Engaging and heartrending."

——Pages Magazine

"Entertaining....Robinson's take on Tinsletown is exact and carefully shaded. . . . It's a subtle reminder of the amount of hope and humor needed to counter the panic and helplessness when life unravels on all fronts."

——Time Out New York

"Wryly effective, capturing the momentum of family sorrow, the ways in which people can care for each other without ever quite coming to terms."

——-New York Times Book Review

"funny and devastating."

——Redbook, "Hot Winter Reads"

"It's a difficult balancing act, but Robinson pulls it off, veering smartly from movie-business absurdity to family grief and back again. It's remarkable that she does it at all, and does it masterfully, using the difficult epistolary form."

——Boston Globe