Arlene Heyman is the author of Scary Old Sex, and a recipient of Woodrow Wilson, Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Robert Wood Johnson fellowships. She has been published in the New American Review and other journals, won Epoch magazine's novella contest, and has been listed twice in the honor rolls of The Best American Short Stories. Heyman is a psychiatrist/psychoanalyst practicing in New York City. This is her first novel.
A wise, intimate tale that is by turns joyful, sorrowful and explicit * Observer * Lottie … encapsulates the dichotomy of her life. She’s a smartly realised character – bright yet naïve, determined and single-minded ... Heyman handles her subject lightly, lacing it with humour * A Life in Books * The author delves deep into Lottie’s psyche, shying away from nothing, to create a rounded and gripping portrait of a woman on the edge of change * Daily Mail * A heroine for our times * Publishers Weekly * Praise for Scary Old Sex: Lusty, tough and life-affirming -- Elaine Showalter * Guardian * Hits the reader in the psyche, the gut and the groin with the force of a precision-aimed slingshot … Shocking, mesmerising and truthful -- Rowan Pelling * Sunday Telegraph * Both funny and eye-wateringly explicit -- Joan Bakewell * Independent * Rueful and funny and observant ... Heyman is an enlightened observer across many aspects of life ... These men and women are busily and blissfully humanizing themselves, the kind of bliss that lifts right off the page * New York Times * A terrific story collection ... Heyman is frank in her descriptions, but never cruel or unfeeling ... a tender, perceptive work * Wall Street Journal * So stylish, earthy and funny -- Deborah Moggach [An] impressive collection ... Heyman takes on the brutal intimacy of death and aging and provides new ways of seeing and experiencing these stages of life * San Francisco Chronicle * Heyman’s frank tales ... feel paradoxically taboo on the page, all the more so for their fierce candour * New Yorker * Sensual and sometimes shocking … Heyman writes with such intimacy and precision that she frequently makes you feel like a trespasser -- Imogen Lycett-Green * Daily Mail * Bold, hilarious and intelligent ... Heyman is upfront and her characters are richly internal * Irish Times * Delivers a shock of taboo desire that is lusciously sensual -- Michèle Roberts * Independent * Though her characters’ flaws, fears and phobias feel all too real, Heyman’s treatment of them is honest, human and kind * Daily Telegraph *