<p>Pippa Lee is the devoted wife of the brilliant New York publisher Herb Lee. Now in his 80s, Herb is finally retired and ready to make a "pre-emptive strike against his decrepitude" by moving with his wife from Gramercy Park to the Marigold Village retirement community. <br><br>Pippa, 30 years younger than Herb, attempts to settle gracefully into life at Marigold Village, but she soon finds herself unravelling: walking, even driving, in her sleep. Chain-smoking. Drawn to the troubled son of a neighbour. Pippa wonders if she is having a nervous breakdown, or if cracks are beginning to show in the veneer she has so carefully constructed. <br><br>For Pippa hasn't always been a sophisticated and beatific wife and parent. She has been daughter to a Dexedrine-addicted mother, Lolita to a teacher, model for S&M lesbian erotica, runaway, drug addict, free spirit and secret mistress -- all before seemingly finding love and security in a family of her own. Now, that identity, too, is coming apart.<br><br>In this absorbing, fearless novel, writer and director Rebecca Miller reveals how many lives can exist within one person -- and how leaving them behind is nearly impossible. </p><p>In spite of all my devotion, in the early days of my marriage, there were moments when, like a wolf domesticated by humans, I caught a scent of my old ways and felt hemmed in. A beautiful young man walking by on the street, the sight of teenagers high in the park, sometimes threw me off balance; I could feel myself teeter on the edge of my new existence, and imagined the thrill of kissing a man I barely knew, or the sharp kick of amphetamine between my eyes.<br> - From The Private Lives of Pippa Lee</p>
