Leslie Larson

The New York Times called Leslie Larson’s second novel, Breaking Out of Bedlam, “A kick.” Publishers Weekly said, “Delightful…Plenty of heart and humor.” And the Boston Globe called it, “A funny, touching novel.” Breaking Out of Bedlam was an AARP Hot Pick and a finalist for France’s Chronos Prize in Literature.\n\nLeslie’s critically acclaimed first novel, Slipstream, was a BookSense Notable Book, a Target Breakout Book, winner of the Astraea Award for Fiction, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Her work has appeared in O (The Oprah Magazine), Faultline, the East Bay Express, More magazine, Writer magazine, and the Women's Review of Books, among other publications. She worked as a senior writer at the University of California Press for many years and has taught creative writing workshops across the country. She lives in Berkeley, California.\n\n To learn more, please visit www.leslielarson.com.\n\nReviews:\n“Leslie Larson gives an 82-year-old assisted living resident an unforgettable voice: caustic, profane, searingly honest….Cora Sledge is an unlikely heroine. She’s a widow, 82 years old, 300-plus pounds, unable to walk more than a few steps. She’s addicted to junk food, various prescription medicines, and cigarettes. She’s cantankerous, irreverent, and curses like a lumberjack. She’s irresistible.… Breaking Out of Bedlam is the story of Cora’s remarkable transformation. When she examines her past, and her present, she is able to open herself to love and life. Larson has given her an audacious and memorable voice. . . . [A] funny, touching novel.”\nBoston Globe\n\n“A kick….Reading [Cora’s]“journals,” as she reawakens, finds a friend and a paramour, and plots her escape, is a hoot.”\nNew York Times\n\n“Delightful….Cora's machinations—sometimes wily, sometimes curious, always funny—and her lovable crustiness give this plenty of heart and humor.”\nPublishers Weekly\n\n“Larson's prose fits her central character like a perfectly-tailored coat: Cora lives and breathes in her pages from the beginning to the end. There is nothing patronizing or indulgent in Larson's depiction of this complex, difficult, emotionally deep personality. . . The reader believes in her, laughs with her, sees and touches her world, feels her love and her grief. Cora has a lesson for all of us: that it really is never too late to change things for the better. This book is simultaneously a love story, a whodunnit and a family saga. It is poignant, involving, moving and engrossing and, not least, highly enjoyable from beginning to end.”\nMetapsychology\n\n“Tough-edged Cora Sledge, 82, is a reluctant resident of The Palisades nursing home—a prison [where] your only crime is you lived too long.” Her tell-all journal, recounting dramas at the home (thefts, love affairs, rivalries) and a tragedy buried in her past, is profane, harrowing, comical—and Cora’s voice is spot-on.”\nAARP Magazine\n\n“It’s clear that Larson cares about the craft of writing. She forges compelling characters and supports them with a thoughtful scaffolding of themes. Breaking Out of Bedlam is a good read: funny, sad and easy….The novel squeezes a remarkably full life and personality into a surprisingly fast pace.… Breaking Out of Bedlam shows, without being cloying, that life can take abrupt turns when least expected.\nSan Francisco Chronicle\n\n“In Breaking Out of Bedlam, 82-year-old Cora Sledge is obese, depressed, diabetic and addicted to painkillers when her family decides to dump her at an old folks’ home. Driven in part by vengeance, Cora vows to sit down and write all that she’s ever wanted to say to them before she dies. The ensuing journal entries cover everything from a rash of thefts to her love affair with a silver-haired fox to a painful secret she’s been hiding all these years. More Gossip Girl than Golden Girls (though we smell a pilot with that idea!), Breaking Out of Bedlam is a fun—and inspiring—read that proves you’re never too old to really start living.”\nInstinct magazine [5 stars]\n\n“Larson has drawn a winning character in Cora . . . She is rude, crude, arrogant, and totally without apology—and readers should admire her for it.”\nThe Hamilton Spectator (Canada)\n\n“Heartwarming and funny with nary a slip into sentimentality.”\nKirkus Reviews\n\n\