Description: With insight, humor, and uncommon immediacy, Breathing Room marks the arrival of an exciting new voice in contemporary fiction. Patricia Elam presents an indelible portrait of two striking women as they negotiate together the ever-shifting terrains of friendship and identity.

Photographer Norma Simmons-Greer has a loving husband, a lively young son, and an upper-middle-class lifestyle. Probation officer Moxie Dilliard is as dedicated to her ideals as she is to her talented teenage daughter, Zadi. Best friends since meeting in college, Norma and Moxie are each other's reality check and reassurance, until the bond between them begins to unravel in unexpected ways. Anguished over the loss of her second child and her husband's recent withdrawal, Norma takes refuge in a complex love affair that puts her at odds with Moxie, and with herself. Haunted by her beloved mother's inspiring yet disturbing emotional legacy, Moxie struggles to understand her friend, while her own refusal to compromise threatens to shatter her relationship with Zadi. Ultimately, a devastating crisis will challenge both women to face the hardest of truths.

A wise and tender look at what love can and cannot survive, Breathing Room is also an exploration of how the past can at once inspire and limit us, and of the pain and promise that accompanies us on life's journey.

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