Welcome to the Coral Lounge, a room in Helen Ellis’s New York City apartment painted such an exuberant shade that a Peeping Tom left a sticky note asking for the color. It is in the Coral Lounge where all the parties happen: A game called “What’s in the box?” makes its uproarious debut, the Puzzle Posse pounces on a 500-piece jigsaw of a beheaded priest, and guests don blindfolds for a raucous bridal shower.
When the pandemic shuts down the city, the Coral Lounge becomes a place of refuge, where Helen and her husband binge-watch Joan Collins’s Dynasty, dote on two spoiled cats, and where Helen discovers that even twenty years into marriage, her husband still makes her heart pitter patter.
Helen Ellis is the author of Bring Your Baggage and Don't Pack Light, Southern Lady Code, American Housewife and Eating the Cheshire Cat. Raised in Alabama, she lives with her husband in New York City. She is a poker player and a plant lady. You can find her on Twitter @WhatIDoAllDay and Instagram @HelenEllisAuthor.
Hailed as “smart and funny” by People, Gina Barreca was deemed a “feminist humor maven” by Ms. She has written for most major publications, including The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Cosmopolitan, and The Harvard Business Review. Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at UCONN as well as winner of its highest award for excellence in teaching, Gina’s written ten books including the bestselling They Used to Call Me Snow White…but I Drifted. Gina’s next book Fast Fallen Women will be published in September by Connecticut based Woodhall Press. The collection of 75 essays is part of Gina's popular Fast Women series — previous titles are Fast Funny Women and Fast Fierce Women.
Can't make it to the event? You can still get signed copy of Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge.