Title: "The Fiction Class"

Author: by Susan Breen
Publisher: Plume (Penguin Group)
Pages: 296
Price: $14
Format: softcover

In a Nutshell: Arabella Hicks teaches a weekly fiction class on New York's Upper West Side. She considers herself an author as well, even though she has not published anything. She has a passion for books, which shows when her scintillating personality commands the attention of the nervous but diverse students. After class, she visits her argumentative mother in a nursing home, a real downer. But something changes when her mother starts thinking of herself as a writer. This is a delightful first novel written with genuine wit and personality.