Elizabeth Passarella

A wickedly smart, utterly hilarious debut from a Southern Living columnist-mother of three, Southerner married to a New Yorker, evangelical Christian, and Democrat-about the absurdity, chaos, and strange sacredness of her life on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "The thing about being an evangelical Christian and a Southerner living in New York City, raising her children in an apartment where one of them sleeps in a closet, is that there are a lot of people in your life to disappoint." So says Elizabeth Passarella in her wry and witty debut, Good Apple. Among the people she has to disappoint are her mother in Memphis, who still hopes her daughter will abandon her love of New York; her mother's friends, horrified that a family of five lives in a two-bedroom apartment; her father, bewildered by how his daughter went from working for Ralph Reed to voting for Hillary Clinton; and, perhaps most of all, her colleagues and neighbors on Manhattan's Upper West Side, who can't believe it's possible Elizabeth is both a successful New York professional and an evangelical Christian. Whether describing the absurdities of dating in New York as a Christian, having a screaming fight with her (much loved) husband on a New York street corner, finding a rat trapped in her bedroom, or explaining how she is both a committed evangelical and a committed Democrat, Elizabeth's sharp, funny, and slyly profound memoir is like sitting across the table from the sardonic yet wise best friend you always wished you had.

Good Apple: Tales of a Southern Evangelical in New York

And Other Thoughts on Moving Forward

It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway

“For a woman who thinks of herself as a New Yorker at this point, I buy a lot of clothes from companies named things like Shrimp & Grits. Why? Because identity is complicated.” Elizabeth Passarella is content with being complicated. She grew up in Memphis in a conservative, Republican family with a Christian mom and a Jewish dad. Then she moved to New York, fell in love with the city—and, eventually, her husband—and changed. Sort of. While her politics have tilted to the left, she still puts her faith first—and argues that the two can go hand in hand, for what it’s worth. In this sharp and slyly profound memoir, Elizabeth shares stories about everything from conceiving a baby in an unair-conditioned garage in Florida to finding a rat in her bedroom. She upends stereotypes about Southerners, New Yorkers, and Christians, making a case that we are all flawed humans simply doing our best. Good Apple is a hilarious, welcome celebration of the absurdity, chaos, and strange sacredness of life that brings us all together, whether we have city lights or starry skies in our eyes. More importantly, it’s about the God who pursues each of us, no matter our own inconsistencies or failures, and shows us the way back home.

Tales of a Southern Evangelical in New York

Good Apple

A wickedly smart, utterly hilarious debut from a Southern Living columnist--mother of three, Southerner married to a New Yorker, evangelical Christian, and Democrat--about the absurdity, chaos, and strange sacredness of her life on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "The thing about being an evangelical Christian and a Southerner living in New York City, raising her children in an apartment where one of them sleeps in a closet, is that there are a lot of people in your life to disappoint." So says Elizabeth Passarella in her wry and witty debut, Good Apple. Among the people she has to disappoint are her mother in Memphis, who still hopes her daughter will abandon her love of New York; her mother's friends, horrified that a family of five lives in a two-bedroom apartment; her father, bewildered by how his daughter went from working for Ralph Reed to voting for Hillary Clinton; and, perhaps most of all, her colleagues and neighbors on Manhattan's Upper West Side, who can't believe it's possible Elizabeth is both a successful New York professional and an evangelical Christian. Whether describing the absurdities of dating in New York as a Christian, having a screaming fight with her (much loved) husband on a New York street corner, finding a rat trapped in her bedroom, or explaining how she is both a committed evangelical and a committed Democrat, Elizabeth's sharp, funny, and slyly profound memoir is like sitting across the table from the sardonic yet wise best friend you always wished you had.

Elizabeth Passarella

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