Fancy Meeting You

A middle-aged woman’s unlikely and hilarious tardy coming-of-age.

Laura Harrigan, the snarky protagonist of Fancy Meeting You is a middle-aged, involuntarily unmarried woman—given to big lies, profanity, and a deeply wicked sense of humor. To quote her: “I’ve been called an alcoholic, dishonest, crazy, a narcissist, shallow, irresponsible, a slut, and once—my favorite—‘too smart.’’’ Laura has a snotty sister she occasionally abhors and a best friend and partner in crime, Javier, who regularly hangs out with her at the Chicken Box, where the bartender knows when to call her an Uber. She is a graduate of Harvard who works a job far beneath her capabilities, though it is daily enlivened by the mood swings of her hapless boss.

The story follows Laura in her home in Baltimore and elsewhere through her fiftieth year. Each chapter marks her encounter with a new character—a family member or two, a potential lover, complete strangers–each offering their own brand of wisdom or judgement or wacky opinion. Somehow, through these entanglements, Laura begins to gather bits and pieces of the self-knowledge she is lacking. Most, if not all, coming-of-age stories are about young people, but this is a middle-aged coming-of-age.