Surprise Me

The dream of becoming a writer takes hold of Isabelle Rothman during her senior year of college. Feeling brave, she begins a tutorial with a once highly praised novelist, Daniel Jablonski, known on campus as eccentric and disengaged. Despite his reputation, Isabelle loves his novels and hopes he can teach her the secrets of his luminous prose. But their first meeting is a disaster. He never read the chapters she submitted and will not apologize for being unprepared.

Slowly, over the semester, they gingerly form a bond that begins to anchor both of them. Over the next twenty years, as they live separate lives—she in California and he in New Hampshire—they reach out to each other. Their connection helps Isabelle find the courage to take greater risks and push Daniel to work through layers of self-loathing and regret that have kept his career from flourishing. They are the single constant in each other's lives.

Daniel and Isabelle recognize they are among the blessed few who meet at the exact moment they need each other the most. In a final collaboration, the boundaries of teacher and student give way to a work that heals something in each of them. They truly see each other as extraordinary—as people do when they love—and that belief makes all the difference.