Until the Real Thing Comes Along

What’s it about?

Patty Ann Murphy, a 36-year old single real estate agent who almost never sells a house, has another big problem: she’s desperate for a baby but intractably in love with a gay man.

What was the inspiration?

When I was in college, I had a relationship with a man who later revealed that he was gay. He was wonderful-compassionate, intelligent, sensitive, a great cook and a swell dresser. And gorgeous! I modeled Ethan on him. I modeled Patty on a friend of mine who was dying to have a baby but just couldn’t find the right one.

Excerpt

Until the Real Thing Comes Along book cover
Random House – 1999

“I took that moment for what I wanted it to be: an acknowledgment that Ethan too ached for that kind of intimacy, and I was the one to give it to him. I was as helpless as an addict before he can even think of changing: stuck in overwhelming want, governed by bone-deep need. Oh, that bad pleasure-it’s amazingly good.”

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