Meet Me in the In-Between - by Bella Pollen (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Growing up the middle child of transatlantic parents-her English Rose mother and cowboy boot-loving father-Bella Pollen never quite figured out how to belong. Restlessly crossing back and forth between the boundaries of family and freedom, England and America, home and away, she has sought but generally failed to contain an adventurous spirit within the confines of conventional living. When she awakes one morning in an existential panic, Pollen grudgingly concludes that in order to move forward, she needs to take a good look at her past. In Meet Me in the In-Between, Pollen takes us on the uproarious journey of a life, from her privileged, unorthodox childhood in Upper Manhattan through early marriage to a son of an alluring Mafioso, to the dusty border towns of Mexico where she embarks on a border crossing with some Pink Floyd-loving smugglers. Throughout all, Bella grapples intently with relationships, motherhood, career ups and downs, and a pathological fear of being boxed in. Interwoven with exquisite original illustrations by the award-winning Kate Boxer, this is a tender, funny, and poignantly honest story of one woman's quest to keep looking for the extraordinary in an ordinary life."--

Book Synopsis

A provocative and lively memoir in stories by the bestselling, "Richard and Judy" selected author of The Summer of the Bear Growing up the middle child of transatlantic parents--her down- to-earth mother and romantic father--Bella Pollen never quite figured out how to belong. Restlessly crossing back and forth between the boundaries of family and freedom, England and America, home and away, she has sought but generally failed to contain an adventurous spirit within the confines of conventional living.

When she awakes one morning stymied by an existential panic, Pollen grudgingly concludes that in order to move forward, she needs to take a good look at her past. In Meet Me in the In-Between, Pollen takes us on the illuminating journey of a life, from her privileged, unorthodox childhood in Upper Manhattan through early marriage to a son of an alluring Mafioso, to the dusty border towns of Mexico where she falls in with a crowd of Pink Floyd-loving smugglers. Throughout all, Bella grapples intently with relationships, motherhood, career ups and downs, and a pathological fear of being boxed in.

Interwoven with exquisite passages of graphic memoir, this is a tender, funny, and deeply honest story of one woman's quest to keep looking for the extraordinary in an ordinary life. With patented mix of humor and pain, novelist Bella Pollen takes a dead-on look at what it means to be a smart, reasonably sane woman navigating the modern world.

Review Quotes

Praise for Meet Me in the In-Between
"Pollen captivatingly mixes graphics with prose to tell of her upbringing, swinging back and forth between binaries (transatlantic homes, riches-to-rags love affairs). Think Eat, Pray, Love-finding yourself, laughing, and taking what you need even when it's not what you wanted-only cooler."--Steph Opitz, Marie Claire

"Pointedly astute...Meet Me in the In-Between displays the disjointedness of a life, how whims and flings don't make existence--or a woman--any less meaningful. It's in the spaces among all these things that something magical breathes and resists capture. As Pollen illustrates in her sharp, nearly wry voice, it is not our memories that will lead us to an understanding of the self, but the act of maneuvering among them, as though they are a crowd blocking the self from view."-- Zyzzyva

"How to know who you truly are and what you can become? With nothing firmly underfoot, Pollen pursues a quest for authenticity through unconventional and unpredictable encounters and thrives. Hers is a memoir of an indelible life full of incredible adventures."--Booklist

"Captivating."--Tatler

"Brava . . . Pollen's account of bohemian family life and outrageous mafia-in-laws is funny, poignant and acute."--The Spectator

"Funny, startling and unexpectedly poignant."--The New Statesman

"Pollen has a way with caustic description that evinces a love for the evocative qualities of language . . . From the beginning (she) revels in a self-absorption that should be off-putting, but her clever way with words is so self -deprecating that she is immediately likeable."--Santa Fe New Mexican

"Idiosyncratic...poignant, beautifully written."--Mail on Sunday (UK)

"Frequently disturbing, often very funny. Pollen has a gift for playing with her readers, teasing them, shocking them, having fun with their assumptions before shaking them out of their complacency to reveal underlying and often very moving profundities. The intimacy of Pollen's prose invites inclusion into the most private conversations she has with herself, her self-mocking humour rippling through . . . unforgettable."--Daily Telegraph (UK)

About the Author

Raised in New York, Bella Pollen is a writer and journalist who has contributed to a variety of publications, including Vogue, Bazaar, The Spectator, The Times and The Sunday Telegraph. She is the author of five novels, including the bestselling Hunting Unicorns and the critically acclaimed Summer of the Bear. She lives and works between the US and England.