New Release: Hope for the Worst by Kate Brandt

Ellie is twenty-four years old, stuck in a dead-end job, and questioning the meaning of life when she meets the much older Calvin. It’s as if her deepest wish has been granted. Star of the Buddhist teaching circuit in New York’s Greenwich Village, his wisdom is exactly what she’s been seeking.

When she becomes the center of his attention, it’s almost pure bliss…until it becomes clear that Calvin expects sex as part of the bargain. At first reluctant, Ellie gradually falls ever more deeply in love, until Calvin is all she can think about.

Calvin’s lectures stress the Buddhist concept of non-attachment, but that doesn’t salve her wounds when he abandons her. Suddenly alone, Ellie must find a way to heal from her loss—but not before devotion to her teacher takes her halfway across the world to Tibet, and puts her life in real danger.
 
Praise for Hope for the Worst
“A thrilling journey into the heart of Buddhist thought on pain, truth, and desire. This story will pull you deep into the thorny beauty of American Buddhism—and leave you wondering and moved.” ~Blair Hurley, author of The Devoted

“A novel that speaks to our moment: how do we live? how not to suffer? how to be where we are? This remarkable story allows us to see our own lives with new eyes.” ~Kathleen Hill, author of She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons

“A tale of high ideas and high longing, with an untrustworthy guru and New York in its most desperate years...a riveting book that will make its mark on all readers.” ~Joan Silber, author of The Secrets of Happiness and Improvement
 
“Pulses with vivid observations of what we do in the search for love...a novel with many lessons for living, rendered in beautiful form.” ~Jimin Han, author of The Apology and A Small Revolution