Dorothy on the Rocks

Publisher Algonquin Books, July 2008

In Maggie Barlow’s world, reality is overrated. So what if her singing career has hit a sour note or she’s no longer the ingénue that she used to be? So what if she drinks and smokes a bit too much or likes to chat with a fairy godperson who appears to her from time to time? She’s the queen of denial and an actress to boot—she can just take on the role of someone she likes better than her sorry self. Regrettably, that role is currently Dorothy in the Little Britches Theater Company’s production of The Wizard of Oz.

Dorothy on the Rocks is the story of a funny, lovable, totally self-destructive woman who, after a night of one-drink-too-many, wakes up with a strange man in her bed: confident, handsome, sexy, twenty-eight-year-old Jack. What happens next is what makes Barbara Suter’s coming-of-middle-age tale so much fun. For when the make-believe is finally stripped away, our hurt, lonely, and very afraid heroine finally takes center stage and finds herself starring in a totally improbable love story. It just might be the role of a lifetime.

“A delightfully witty and charming novel that makes you believe in fairy godmothers and the magic of love.”
— Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife and The Same Sweet Girls

“This book has everything: glitter and glamour and too much to drink, love and sex and confusion and fairies, big laughs and big tears, and a very smart dog named Mr. Ed. All this and sticky notes too! I love Barbara Suter’s writing. The only bad thing is having to wait for her next book.”
–Mark Childress, author of One Mississippi and Crazy in Alabama.