Creatures of Habit

"I loved wandering through San Francisco with Gina, sharing this long winter day of surprising encounters, tender connections, and memories both painful and full of joy. A tender, expansive exploration of loss, resilience, and the power of the imagination." — Rachel Pastan, author of We're So Lucky to Live Here "When an out-of-water amphibious man appears in Gina’s kitchen on the day of her soon-to-be ex-husband’s engagement party, she finds herself able, finally, to examine the realities of her life. Creatures of Habit, the debut novel by Jennifer Yeh, is a lyrical and imaginative story about grief and endurance, set on a single San Francisco day. Can one learn to honor what once was without drowning in that history? Yeh’s generous novel deftly shows us how this is possible, a triumph of love, courage and understanding.” — Susan Scarf Merrell, author of Shirley: A Novel "Playfully written, profound, wildly interior and strange and full of questions of family and love - this is a book I read slowly, because I wanted to savor the language, the empathy, and yes, the gorgeous frogman." — Amber Sparks, author of Happy People Don't Live Here "Tender, inventive and wise. Jennifer Yeh’s remarkable debut, set over the course of one ordinary/extraordinary day, is about dogs and grief and marriage and children, losing love and finding it again and–oh, yes–an amphibious man. You’ve never read anything like Creatures of Habit because there’s never been anything quite like it before." — Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year "This wholly original novel explores the courage it takes to release the life you've lost and embrace the one waiting just beyond it. A tender reminder that quiet transformations can arrive when we least expect them." — Kelly Anderson, author of The Wild Beneath