Maggie
Or, A Man and a Woman Walk into a Bar
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Maggie
Narrated by:
Emily Woo Zeller
Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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Emily Woo Zeller
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By:
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Katie Yee
About this listen
'An absolutely delightful debut! An inspiring story of growth and wonder. Highly recommend!' ELIN HILDERBRAND, author of The Perfect Couple, now a major Netflix series
'Beautifully written' The Daily Mail
'A short, powerful and joyously life-affirming novel.' Red Magazine
'One of the most delightful debuts I've read in a long time' The New York Times
'Stands out as one of the most unusual literary debuts of the summer' Washington Post
'A gem of a novel, one that will make you think, make you feel, and make you laugh." ALISON ESPACH, author of The Wedding People
'A wry meditation on grief, healing, and reclaiming one's identity.' TIME Magazine
'A stand-out and must-read debut... Every paragraph is perfect' WEIKE WANG, author of Joan Is Okay
A man and a woman walk into a restaurant. The woman expects a lovely night filled with endless plates of samosas. Instead, she finds out her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie.
A short while after, her chest starts to ache. She walks into an examination room, where she finds out the pain in her breast isn't just heartbreak-it's cancer. She decides to call the tumor Maggie.
Unfolding in fragments over the course of the ensuing months, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar follows the narrator as she embarks on a journey of grief, healing, and reclamation. She starts talking to Maggie (the tumor), getting acquainted with her body's new inhabitant. She overgenerously creates a "Guide to My Husband: A User's Manual" for Maggie (the other woman), hoping to ease the process of discovering her ex-husband's whims and quirks. She turns her children's bedtime stories into retellings of Chinese folklore passed down by her own mother, in an attempt to make them fall in love with their shared culture-and to maybe save herself in the process.
In the style of Jenny Offill and the tradition of Nora Ephron's hilarious and devastating writing on heartbreak and womanhood, Maggie is a master class in transforming personal tragedy into a form of defiant comedy.©2025 Katie Yee (P)2025 Orion Publishing Group Limited
Critic Reviews
Katie Yee is a storyteller extraordinaire. This book is like a boat you get on and drift into magical waters, full of heart and heartbreak, teaming with feeling (Delia Ephron, author of The Lion Is In)
A stand-out and must-read debut. This is a poignant exploration of a woman's unraveling, when her world is turned upside down by an unexpected confession. Katie Yee weaves a tale of complex emotions and subtle betrayals, with a keen eye for the intricacies of human relationships and the quiet, often overlooked moments of life. Every paragraph is perfect (Weike Wang, author of Chemistry)
This book is a lump in the throat, a punchline that hurts, a catalogue of life's curveballs. Maggie is miraculously funny, a tender and wisecracking missive from the midst of catastrophe. Katie Yee knows that at the center of every joke, and every person, there is a broken heart (Hilary Leichter, author of Temporary)
'Yee's delightful and quirky novel takes place during a series of pauses - between divorce and marriage, sickness and health, the unknown and the status quo.' (The New York Times)
'Stands out as one of the most unusual literary debuts of the summer' (Washington Post)
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