Things We Need

The author of GIRLS IN WHITE DRESSES turns her gimlet eye upon family relationships. An acutely-observed, off-centre novel about that place you return to when things go staggeringly awry: home

Things We Need is emotionally engaging and thoughtful; like Anne Tyler, Close goes straight into the heart of a group of people to show all its flawed, complicated members clearly and deftly and totally without judgment. There is not one dull moment - Close is a subtle and incisive writer who gets better with each new book.

Witty... A great story about the messiness of modern family life

Close is good at capturing the complicated dynamics of family life, particularly the way in which people who fundamentally love each other can drive each other insane… Moving

‘In the Coffey house, there was always a list taped to the refrigerator. At the top, it was titled: THINGS WE NEED. The title was always capped and underlined, as if to stress that yes, this is important, these aren’t just things we want, these are things we need.’ 
 
Will and Weezy Coffey thought they’d prepared their three children for the challenges and hurdles of adult life. But being a grown-up isn’t easy. 
 
Claire’s engagement has been called off and she’s hiding from her debts. Martha’s in a career crisis and even her sympathetic therapist is losing patience. And Max, the baby of the family in his final year at college, has got himself into a serious girlfriend fiasco. 
 
Things We Need tells a story we all recognise, only a wittier, wiser version. Jennifer Close turns her gimlet eye and deadpan humour on the messiness of family life. A story about modern life and the place we return to when things go drastically awry: home.

Jennifer Close was born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago. She is a graduate of Boston College and received her MFA in Fiction Writing from the New School in 2005. She worked in New York in magazines for many years. She now lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches creative writing at George Washington University. Her first novel, Girls in White Dresses, was published in the UK in 2012.

Girls in White Dresses

A wry, witty walk through those thrilling, bewildering, what-on-earth-am-I-going-to-do-with-my-life years of early adulthood

A hit in America, this wry and witty novel will pull at your heartstrings as you watch the characters navigate through work crises, romance and their turbulent twenties

One of the funniest books I have read in ages…sharply and sparely written, it’s a sort of absurdist Sex and the City, but the characters have much less money and are therefore much more real… Warm, witty and compassionate

Brilliantly well observed and delivered with deliciously dry wit, this coming-of-age tale charting the fates and fortunes of a group of young New York women became a huge hit Stateside before its publication here. Close paints vividly true portraits of the hateful and wonderful complexities of careers, romance and friendships and the result is funny, insightful and piquant. You’ll nod in agreement, laugh out loud and go out and buy copies for all your friends

Close’s debut pulls you into the midst of Isabella, Mary and Lauren’s social circle, reminding us that friendship is everything in life. A great first novel, it has a touch of hit TV show Girls about it, and is full of the ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ angst that we can all relate to

An irresistible, pitch-perfect first novel

Close's characters grumble good-naturedly through their friends' weddings and the births of their babies, supporting one another as they stumble through the minefield of rotten jobs and disastrous romances, with the pluck and gimlet eye of Carrie Bradshaw's younger, smarter sisters

If Elizabeth Bennet were post-collegiate, hungover, lovelorn and living on the Upper West Side, she would definitely be rooming with the Girls in White Dresses. This debut is hilarious, warm-hearted and wise, and I couldn't put it down

Holly LeCraw, author of 'The Swimming Pool'

Close’s cynical humor shines... Close captures that mix of perplexing anticipation, tedium, poor choices, dashed hopes and resilience that characterizes young adulthood

Reminiscent of Melissa Bank’s The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing. It is modern and funny, with original, wry observations. Close’s debut novel will appeal to both fans of contemporary women’s fiction with a hip vibe and readers who enjoy old-school chick lit

Close’s sardonic, well-crafted female characters and the all-too-familiar feeling of wedding fatigue will capture a large audience

This debut will ring bells... An uncanny portrait emerges of a time in life marked by too many hangovers, bad dates and bridal showers - as well as an abundance of solid friendships

It’s a pleasure to get to know the characters

Funny and often poignant...The vignettes of White Dresses are intricate and often absurd, yet instantly relatable

So many books...say they perfectly capture the angst and soaring joys of post-college life, but Girls in White Dresses truly does

With a light touch and utterly believable characters, Close’s...appealing debut manages to capture the humor, heartache and cautious optimism of her protagonists

Feels like catching up with an old friend... Although the majority of the stories are humorous, they are never mean-spirited, and the friendships Close portrays feel incredibly realistic

Close straddles the line between melancholy and breeziness as she chronicles the exploits of recent college grads trying to make it in New York City . . . Hints at something deeper and truer: not just the adventure of being young, but the unmooring of it, too

You’ll relate, but mostly you’ll laugh as Close turns her sweet-tart wit on the dating and mating shenanigans of this tight-knit group of friends

Close’s wry wit and deadpan delivery...make this debut novel a treat to read. . . . An original confection with echoes of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing and a dollop of Sex and the City

Jennifer Close’s debut, Girls in White Dresses, follows a group of young women doing all the things they know they shouldn’t—falling for one’s boss, dating gay men—all while drinking far too many mimosas at other people’s weddings

Funny... These stories will resonate with readers in the throes of the quarter-life churn

What a delight! The young women in this hugely appealing book are charming, funny, rueful, poignant - just like their creator, in other words, one of the freshest and most appealing new voices in fiction. I can't wait for more work from Jennifer Close

Ann Packer, bestselling author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Swim Back to Me

The only way to express my love for Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close is to tell you that this is the one book that I will be recommending over and over again to all of my friends. I laughed, I cried, I nodded knowingly as the characters waded their way through the hits and misses of their twenties and thirties. I can't remember the last time I loved a book as much as this one

Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author of 'The One That I Want' and 'Time of My Life'

Girls In White Dresses is a dark, funny, intimate romp through boyfriends, first apartments, and great friendships - but beneath the surface lurks the jealousy, disappointment, and love that didn't quite end up the way you thought it would. Jennifer Close's brilliant, deadpan humor made me laugh so hard my own roommate thought I was nuts

Girls in White Dresses is about a group of smart, funny, unapologetically grouchy, always-hungover female friends who kvetch their way through one another's weddings and showers, stare blearily at one another's offspring, sometimes barely tolerate one another's men, but nonetheless have one another's backs through thick and thin. Jennifer Close has written an unsentimental, frank novel about female friendship - its lifelong loyalties and unconditional love

Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of 'The Great Man' and 'The Astral'

I recently read a book which explores the same post-university landscape that Girls handles; Jennifer Close's Girls In White Dresses. Like Girls, it is often funny, moving and true to (my and other straight women of a certain age living in a big city) life

Delightful… Sharply and sparely written … a great debut

Jennifer Close was born and raised on the North Shore of Chicago. She is a graduate of Boston College and received her MFA in Fiction Writing from The New School in 2005. She worked in New York in magazines for many years and then in Washington, D.C., as a bookseller. Girls in White Dresses is her first book. 
twitter.com/jenniferclose

Ever feel like everyone but you has their life under control? 
 
Isabella, Mary and Lauren feel like everyone they know has a plan, a good job, and a nice boyfriend. 
 
Isabella, on the other hand, thinks she might hate her own boyfriend, Mary is working so hard she's hoping to get hit by a car just so she can have some time off work and Lauren is dating a man who can't spell her first name. 
 
All three of them have been friends since college, and now - more than ever - they need each other, as they struggle through those thrilling, bewildering, what-on-earth-am-I-doing years when everyone else is getting married and they're just getting drunk.

Jennifer Close

A low-key drama packed with Girls-style observation and wit

I want to be friends with all of the narrators of this addictive novel

Wit and vibrant characters make The Smart One an engaging exploration of a thoroughly modern family dynamic

Packed with dry wit and whip-sharp observation… An endearing and eye-wateringly unflinching ode to the messiness of family life

The Coffey siblings are having a rough year. 
 
Claire has broken up with her fiancé and is hiding from her debts. Martha’s in a career crisis and even her therapist is losing patience with her. And Max, the baby of the family in his final year of college, is keeping a life-altering secret. Before long, all three of them have moved back home. 
 
But things aren’t so easy the second time around. Martha and Claire regress to fighting over the shared bathroom while their mother continues to plan Claire’s thwarted wedding (unbeknownst to Claire). But it’s only a matter of time before Max’s secret comes out and changes all of their lives…

The Smart One

About us

Jennifer Close

Praise for The Smart One

A low-key drama packed with Girls-style observation and wit

Witty... A great story about the messiness of modern family life

I want to be friends with all of the narrators of this addictive novel

A low-key drama packed with Girls-style observation and wit

Witty... A great story about the messiness of modern family life

I want to be friends with all of the narrators of this addictive novel

A low-key drama packed with Girls-style observation and wit

Witty... A great story about the messiness of modern family life

I want to be friends with all of the narrators of this addictive novel

Books by Jennifer Close

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