The Done Thing is the newest novel by Iowa Workshop graduate Tracy Manaster, whose first novel, You Could Be Home By Now (Tyrus 2014), was critically acclaimed and widely reviewed. ("Poignant, funny debut..."--People)

Lida Stearl prides herself on always knowing the most appropriate thing to do in any given situation, confidence that has served her well in building her career as an orthodontist, maintaining a happy marriage, and raising her young niece in the wake of a violent tragedy. But now she’s a widowed, retired, empty-nester and the small perfections of an orderly life are not quite enough to stop her from feeling adrift.
Then a well-intentioned birthday gift leads to the discovery that Clarence Lusk, on death row for the murder of Lida’s sister and preparing for his final appeal, is seeking pen-pals. Lida, furious, does not think he is entitled to any such consolations, and decides to teach him a lesson: she begins to write him, pretending to be naïve, twenty-three, and just the slightest bit flirtatious. As she accumulates details of Clarence’s life in prison and his connections outside it, her preoccupation with the crime and its echoes intensifies, unsettling those around her and jeopardizing her relationship with her beloved niece. When the date of Clarence’s clemency hearing is set and he begins to suspect there is something strange about his pen pal, Lida finds herself in danger of losing what little family remains to her.

In the vein of the unforgettable women in Olive Kittridge by Elizabeth Strout and The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud, Lida is an utterly memorable character, sharp-edged and meddlesome, occasionally unpleasant, at times even venomous, but always deeply sympathetic and human. The voice rings true throughout. The Done Thing is an authentic, assured piece of writing.

 

Tracy Manaster is a graduate of Wesleyan University and The Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She was the 2006 recipient of the National League of American Pen Women’s Joanna Catherine Scott prize for novel excerpt. Her nonfiction has appeared in Iagora and Moxie magazines and as interactive exhibit texts for The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and twin daughters.

 

"Lida Stearl is many things: a widow, a parent, a retired orthodontist, a proper St. Louis lady of a certain age, and hell-bent on making her sister’s killer’s final days on earth as unpleasant as possible. What begins as one woman’s obsessive, secret quest for revenge unfolds into a skillfully written exploration of forgiveness, family, loyalty, and justice. Tracy Manaster’s caustic yet tender second novel is a masterpiece."──Mo Daviau, author of Every Anxious Wave

"The Done Thing is a wonderfully engrossing novel -- the unnerving and vividly-imagined tale of Lida Stearl, a charming widow who maintains her polite exterior although she's quietly riven by grief and righteous fury. Tracy Manaster has written a novel that beguiles with its characters and its gripping story, but it also provides a rich investigation into what happens when we give space to our terrible little impulses, how these tiny monstrosities can grow and spread beyond our control."──Peter Mountford, author of The Dismal Science and A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism