Tom Perrotta (born August 13, 1961) is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for his novels Election (1998) and Little Children (2004), both of which were made into critically acclaimed, Golden Globe-nominated films. Perrotta co-wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film version of Little Children with Todd Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Genres: Literary Fiction
Novels
The Wishbones (1997)
Joe College (2000)
Little Children (2003)
The Abstinence Teacher (2007)
The Leftovers (2011)
Mrs. Fletcher (2017)
Joe College (2000)
Little Children (2003)
The Abstinence Teacher (2007)
The Leftovers (2011)
Mrs. Fletcher (2017)
Collections
Plays
Novellas
Series contributed to
Tom Perrotta recommends

Maneater (2003)
Gigi Levangie
"Maneater is the rare satire that manages to be both scathingly funny and affectionate toward its targets. Gigi Levangie's gloriously ditzy L.A. party girls make the women of Sex and the City seem like a bunch of stuffy New York intellectuals."

Rattled (2006)
Debra Galant
"Debra Galant does for the McMansions of New Jersey what Carl Hiaasen did for the swamps of Florida."

Death of a Circus (2006)
Chandra Prasad
"Puts a fresh spin on the timeworn myths of the big top. Chandra Prasad's Death of a Circus is narrated with Dickensian verve, a keen eye for historical detail, and lots of heart."

I Love You, Beth Cooper (2007)
Larry Doyle
"An instant classic... freakishly smart and wickedly funny."

The Romantics (2008)
Galt Niederhoffer
"The Romantics is a smart, edgy novel that is wickedly insightful about class and privilege, amusingly cynical about love and friendship, and thoroughly entertaining throughout. Galt Niederhoffer is an elegant prose stylist and a shrewd social observer."

The End of Everything (2011)
Megan Abbott
"Megan Abbott writes with total authority and an almost desperate intensity; her story grabs hold of you and won't let go."

Best Staged Plans (2011)
Claire Cook
"Claire Cook's characters aren't rich or glamorous--they're physically imperfect, emotionally insecure, and deeply familiar."

Pretend I'm Dead (2015)
Jen Beagin
"How can you resist a love story in which the object of desire is named Mr. Disgusting? Like Denis Johnson, Jen Beagin is able to find humanity and wonder (and yes, love) in some of the most forlorn and hopeless corners of our world."

Edgar and Lucy (2017)
Victor Lodato
"A quirky coming-of-age novel that deepens into something dark and strange without losing its heart or its sense of wonder."

The Italian Teacher (2018)
Tom Rachman
"The Italian Teacher is a marvel - an entertaining, heartbreaking novel about art, family, loyalty, and authenticity. Tom Rachman is an enormously talented writer - this book is alive, from the first page to the last."

Lake Success (2018)
Gary Shteyngart
"Lake Success takes us on an unforgettable road trip through an America that's ominously divided, wildly diverse, and weirdly familiar. Gary Shteyngart writes about money and marriage with brutal honesty, virtuoso wit, and stubborn compassion for his deeply flawed but still somehow lovable characters."

An American Marriage (2018)
Tayari Jones
"An American Marriage asks hard questions about injustice and betrayal, and answers them with a heartbreaking and genuinely suspenseful love story in which nobody's wrong and everybody's wounded. Tayari Jones has written a complex and important novel about people trapped in a tragic situation, struggling to reconcile their responsibilities and desires."

My Ex-Life (2018)
Stephen McCauley
"My Ex-Life is a pleasure of the deepest sort?it’s a wise, ruefully funny, and ultimately touching exploration of mid-life melancholy and unexpected second chances. Stephen McCauley is a wonderful writer, and this may be his best book yet."

Visible Empire (2018)
Hannah Pittard
"Visible Empire starts out as an examination of a mass tragedy and slowly morphs into something more intimate and revelatory. Hannah Pittard’s novel is a deeply resonant portrait of individualsand a cityin the throes of grief, and on the cusp of momentous change."

Trust Exercise (2019)
Susan Choi
"Trust Exercise is a brilliant and challenging novel, an uncanny evocation of the not-so-distant past that turns into a meditation on the slipperiness of memory and the ethics of storytelling. Susan Choi is a masterful novelist, who understands exactly where we are right now and how we got here."

Fleishman is in Trouble (2019)
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
"This is a remarkable debut from one of the most distinctive writers around."

Friends and Strangers (2020)
J Courtney Sullivan
"Friends and Strangers is a smart and deeply compelling exploration of female friendship and the complicated politics of motherhood and childcare. J. Courtney Sullivan is a shrewd and sympathetic observer of our current cultural moment, with an unerring eye for the way that the unspoken realities of money and class can affect even our most intimate relationships."

Mother Daughter Widow Wife (2020)
Robin Wasserman
"Mother Daughter Widow Wife is suspenseful, keenly intelligent, and thoroughly engrossing. Robin Wasserman’s novel explores the complexities of memory and identity with unflinching clarity and deep compassion."

Milk Fed (2021)
Melissa Broder
"Smart, funny, sexy, and hard to put down. In this fast-moving, deeply compelling novel, Melissa Broder combines an unexpected (and very hot) love story with a sharp-edged examination of body image, religion, and cultural identity."

Morningside Heights (2021)
Joshua Henkin
"What does it really mean: in sickness and in health, till death do us part? Morningside Heights knows the answer. In this tender, wise, and unflinching novel, Joshua Henkin traces the bittersweet arc of a lifelong love, with all its joy and pain."

The Days of Afrekete (2021)
Asali Solomon
"The Days of Afrekete is one of the most enjoyable novels I've read in a long time. Asali Solomon is a wickedly astute observer of the human condition, alert to all our weaknesses and absurdities, as well as our occasional moments of transcendence. The clarity of her vision is sometimes unsettling, but it's always revelatory."

Lioness (2022)
Mark Powell
"Lioness is a darkly compelling portrait of an artist who evolves into a homegrown ecoterrorist. Mark Powell's brooding, twisty novel is packed with a distinctively American, highly explosive mixture of religion, art, sexual obsession, mental illness, and environmental menace."

Sleepwalk (2022)
Dan Chaon
"Sleepwalk is an addictive dystopian picaresque, by turns darkly funny, deeply harrowing, and surprisingly poignant. Dan Chaon's vision of our future will give you chills of dread and recognition."

Amy Among the Serial Killers (2022)
(Amy Gallup, book 3)
Jincy Willett
"Jincy Willett is a fearless writer, capable of startling the reader into rueful laughter at every turn."
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