Disturbing the Peace: A Novel

Sarah is smart, sexy, talented, and funny ... and less than satisfied with her life. She has a career that she absolutely adores and true romance on the horizon. But there's something missing -- something that has her restlessly scanning the faces in the crowd and asking, Is she the one?Sarah never met the birth mother who gave her up for adoption. And that hole in her past has colored everything that came after it. Now, with the big "three-five" looming, Sarah's setting off on a wild Manhattan odyssey in search of the woman who gave her life. But the sages say you should be very careful what you wish for. The mother she's been seeking may not turn out to be the one Sarah finds -- and she may just rock Sarah's world!

From Publishers Weekly

Straightforward and pleasingly plainspoken, Newman's first novel tells the story of Sarah Bridges's journey to find her birth mother and come to terms with her past. About to turn 35, Sarah appears to have it all: ensconced in New York City, she's adored by her painter boyfriend, who is six years her junior; she loves teaching English to foreign students and is working on a book about their struggles to assimilate. But while interviewing Alex Astor a handsome, wealthy Romanian immigrant whose rags-to-riches story Sarah wants to include in her book she reveals a secret of her parentage that she has hidden from friends and lovers her entire life: "I've never met my natural mother I don't even know her name." This unexpected confession forces Sarah to reevaluate her childhood and all its "hidden sadness," revealing a nagging emptiness at her core. Depression, poor concentration, boyfriend problems and difficulties at work follow, as Sarah scans the faces of strangers in search of her birth mother. Feeling increasingly like a "freak," she begins a more methodical search before she sinks into despair. Despite the thinly drawn characters, superfluous subplots and a far too predictable ending, it's difficult not to feel touched by Sarah's brave search for the truth. Her emotional breakdown as she approaches midlife and her need to understand her birth parents' choices is authentic. This heartfelt novel is sure to interest readers who have been affected by adoption. Agent, Anne Edelstein. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Heading toward her mid-thirties, the still-attractive Sarah Bridges has an enviable life: she has a job teaching English to immigrant adults, a sexy, artistic boyfriend named Stoddard, and aspirations to publish a book of interviews about the immigrant experience. But two things shake up her comfortable existence: she meets the mysterious and handsome Romanian migr Alex Astor, and she becomes fixated on locating her birth mother, who gave her up for adoption as a newborn. As she tracks down clues to her mother's identity and whereabouts, her relationship with Stoddard falls apart and her conflicted feelings about Alex veer toward the positive. Flat characters and a mishmash of main plots and subplots (Newman can't quite make up her mind whether she wants to write about searching for a birth mother or meeting the man of one's dreams) add up to a first novel that's less than satisfactory. Although the publisher is comparing this novel to Elinor Lipman's Then She Found Me, Newman's writing falls far short of Lipman's joie de vivre. Not a necessary purchase. Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Heredity or environment--which makes us who we are? Sarah Bridges spends her life helping people who leave their families to come to America. She teaches English in New York City to new immigrants and documents their experiences for a book that she tries to get published, but as she approaches age 35, she starts to focus on her own life. She meets Alex Astor, a successful immigrant, and as she tries to learn his story she realizes a part of her own is missing. She has known that her stepmother adopted her but has never told anyone about being adopted and now wonders who her mother is. Alex encourages her quest to find her family, but her friends and much younger boyfriend become alienated by her determination. Newman's first novel, a delicious foray into the frenzied world of a single woman searching for her identity, is chock-full of interesting characters and wicked insights. Patty EngelmannCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Nancy Newman grew up on Long Island. She has an M.A. in English literature and has taught writing and literature at the City University of New York. Newman is married and has three sons. She lives with her family in New York City. Disturbing the Peace is her first novel.

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