The Responsible Party, (Hardcover)

<p><b>A rollicking, "unsinkable," (Sam Lipsyte) and hilarious debut novel about a family of </b><b>unforgettable women obsessed with securing their legacy, for fans of <i>Geek Love</i></b> </p><p>Claire grew up with the legend of the Unsinkable Mounsey Women. Her great-great-grandmother Fanny made headlines in 1915 for washing ashore in England nearly a year after her ship sank. Fanny's daughter Sarah went to collect her mother on the equally ill-fated <i>Lusitania</i>--whose sinking she, too, survived. Their improbable endurance led to regional stardom on the Midwestern vaudeville circuit. But Claire never knew the full story--until now. </p><p>Listless, jobless, and recently canceled for extolling skin-care advice online that sent a reader to the hospital, Claire is surprised when a knock at the door turns out to be the police, looking for answers about a murder from the 1970s they suspect her mother, Kath, may know something about. As the cops zero in, Claire demands answers from her mother. </p><p>Kath's comically long response, which blossoms into the story of the Mounseys and their descendants writ large, moves from a Liverpudlian poorhouse at the onset of World War I to a Lake Michigan lighthouse in 1971 (when sex was freer and McDonald's fried their potatoes with beef tallow) to present-day Chicagoland; along the way, it offers Claire a richer understanding of what she inherited from the complicated, resilient women she descends from. </p><p>Replete with inappropriately old boyfriends, dubious medical professionals, and more than a few boats, <i>The Responsible Party</i> is the story of several women, in several different timelines, trying to stay afloat.</p>

• The Responsible Party, (Hardcover)
• Author: Claire Carusillo
• ISBN: 9781250408631
• Format: Hardcover
• Publication Date: 2026-08-11
• Page Count: 336