'Metz gives us Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking with the reality-check of Nora Ephron's Heartburn. An enthralling, heart-pounding, unforgettable read.'

Jennifer Belle, author of High Maintenance and Little Stalker

'A lovely and lively writer, Metz's charm is all about the nitty-gritty details, and her book is a curl-up-onthe couch delight, easily consumed in one sitting.'

(Sunday Telegraph)

'For anyone who has experienced betrayal, Perfection is cathartic. This trenchant look at loss is ultimately healing: Julie Metz's journey and renewal not only inspires but offers hope.'

(Courier Mail)

'She brings refreshing candor to a startling, painful tale.'

(The New York Times)

'Perfection is a nuanced, spellbinding portrait of an extraordinarily complex marriage. Julie Metz has written a literary page-turner that is at once entertaining and moving.'

Hilary Black, editor of The Secret Currency of Love

'Readers will be mesmerized as Metz seeks out his consorts and confronts them — sometimes with curiosity and sometimes with venom. Equally fascinating: her head-first dive into the dating pool. Her honesty about middle-aged sex and her fear of never finding the "new" right someone make this a delectable summer read.'

(USA Today)

'... heart-wrenching but triumphant.'

(Glamour)

'You'll be absorbed by the real-life sleuthing in Perfection, a riveting memoir about a widow who discovers that her late husband lived a deceptive double life.'

(Real Simple)

'A fascinating memoir.'

(People Magazine (US))

'In lyrical, moving prose, we're treated to a powerful story of love, infidelity, grief — and starting over.'

(Working Mother)

'lyrical, haunting, and utterly gripping'

(Redbook)

'It is impossible to put Perfection down as we follow Julie Metz through her true story of love, lies, loss and moving forward. Her raw and brave writing makes you want to cheer Metz on as she pieces her life back together, one beautiful sentence at a time.'

Marian Fontana, author of A Widow's Walk

'Six months after her husband's funeral, Julie Metz discovered his five mistresses, one of them her presumed friend. She writes, "I couldn't kill Henry anymore, since he was, conveniently enough, dead." The seed of Perfection was rage, yet Metz's fury is not ugly, not even vengeful. Instead it provides this book's beautiful testimony that, instead of killing the subject, the author can do something that diminishes him even more totally. She can forgive him and move on. That accomplishment, via prose, leaves me breathless.'

Sarah Manguso, author of THE TWO KINDS OF DECAY

'This aching memoir of love, loss, and deception is candid and compelling. I found myself rooting for Julie Metz in her search for a happy "second life".'

Hilma Wolitzer, author of SUMMER READING and HEARTS

'Julie Metz's Perfection chronicles with lapidary precision one woman's arduous climb back to happiness after not just a spouse's death, but also the shocking recognition that her life before that death was not what she had thought it was. The journey is a painful one, and long, but Ms. Metz is much the stronger for having survived to recount it.'

Julie Powell, author of Julie and Julia

'Julie Metz's memoir of how her marriage unraveled after her mate's death is piercingly honest, haunting and heartbreaking.'

Susan Shapiro, author of FIVE MEN WHO BROKE MY HEART & LIGHTING UP

‘After her husband’s sudden death, Julie Metz slices into the heart of his tangled hidden infidelities and spills her own life onto the page. I shouted with joy as Julie kicked apart the illusion of her perfect life — and still had the courage, desire and fury to write it for us. Brave, heart-wrenching and salty with tears.’

Barbara Robinette Moss, author of Change Me into Zeus’s Daughter

'This is one of those stories that sucks you right in and gets under your skin. Compelling, gripping, shocking, unnerving, always moving, sometimes downright uncomfortable and above all — real ... This is powerful stuff. A very brave and entirely unforgettable story.'

(Daily Post)