Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Lift and Separate: A Novel
    Lift and Separate: A Novel
    Lift and Separate: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    Lift and Separate: A Novel

    Written by Marilyn Simon Rothstein

    Narrated by Donna Postel

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Marcy Hammer’s life has been turned upside down. Her husband, the head of a global brassiere empire, didn’t think twice about leaving her after thirty-three years of marriage for a 32DD lingerie model. Now Harvey the Home-Wrecker is missing in action, but Marcy’s through thinking about what a cliché he is. What she needs now is a party-size bag of potato chips, a good support system, and a new dress.

    Striking out on her own is difficult at first, but Marcy manages to find traces of humor in her heartbreak. Even while devastated by Harvey’s departure, she still has her indomitable spirit and her self-respect. She has no intention of falling apart, either, even when her adult children drop a few bombshells of their own and she discovers a secret about her new, once-in-a-lifetime friend. Life may be full of setbacks, but by lifting herself up by her own lacy straps, Marcy just may be able to handle them all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateDec 1, 2016
    ISBN9781531846398
    Lift and Separate: A Novel
    Author

    Marilyn Simon Rothstein

    Marilyn Simon Rothstein is the author of Lift and Separate, winner of the Star Award presented by the Women’s Fiction Writers Association for Outstanding Debut. Husbands and Other Sharp Objects is her second novel. Marilyn grew up in New York City, earned a degree in journalism from New York University, began her writing career at Seventeen magazine, married a man she met in an elevator, and owned an advertising agency for more than twenty-five years. Marilyn received an MA in liberal studies from Wesleyan University and an MA in Judaic studies from the University of Connecticut. She enjoys speaking at book festivals and community events.

    More audiobooks from Marilyn Simon Rothstein

    Related to Lift and Separate

    Related audiobooks

    Contemporary Women's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Parakeet

      May 29, 2020

      Parakeet
      11 min read

    • Article

      I Got 99 Problems

      Nov 4, 2020

      I have never been in a serious relationship and my whole family is convinced I’m secretly gay. I’d happily tell them if I were, but I’m content on my own. How can I make them understand? A. S., North Yorkshire No problem here, that I can detect. Tr

      4 min read

    • Article

      When Life Bites

      Sep 14, 2020

      When Life Bites
      6 min read

    • Article

      Before And After

      May 6, 2021

      Before And After
      10 min read

    • Article

      No Party Pooper

      Jan 16, 2023

      No Party Pooper
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Diana ’ I KNEW

      Jul 6, 2021

      For me, as I’m sure for many others, it seems almost impossible to imagine Diana, Princess of Wales, at the age of 60. Her image remains frozen in time, an elegant, glamorous 36-year-old global icon. She was someone who dominated my life for more th

      3 min read

    • Article

      Trading FUTURES

      Sep 15, 2021

      Trading FUTURES
      3 min read

    • Article

      TOP OF THE frocks

      Feb 18, 2020

      TOP OF THE frocks
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Only Rule

      Jul 13, 2020

      There is only one rule in polite English society, but it is iron clad. Of course, polite English society is a fiction. For one thing, its members are rarely polite. Politeness is for the middle classes rather than those who live off ancestral acres o

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Idiots

      Feb 26, 2021

      The Idiots
      18 min read

    • Article

      Carrie Fountain

      Mar 1, 2020

      Outside Dublin, Texas the radio stationsdisappear and I’m left alone with the faintvoice of a call-in psychologist talkingto a man in Cleveland about the voiceof the self, the narratives that voicetells, how they can be sharp and wrongand cut to the

      5 min read

    • Article

      I’ll Not Risk Myself

      Feb 10, 2024

      My phone reception is better outside the laundromat, so I spend most of my time waiting for laundry on the bench near the door. I don’t talk with my friends, but I surf the news. I like to know what’s going on. I don’t like people to know about me, t

      13 min read

    • Article

      G’day – And Goodbye

      Aug 25, 2021

      G’day – And Goodbye
      4 min read

    • Article

      Jason the Heat Guy

      Jan 11, 2021

      Jason the Heat Guy
      11 min read

    • Article

      Four Of A Kind

      May 3, 2023

      Four Of A Kind
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Perfect Wedding

      Apr 6, 2020

      A Perfect Wedding
      5 min read

    • Article

      Meeting Eve Babitz

      Jan 7, 2019

      Meeting Eve Babitz
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Lift and Separate

    3.5/5

    50 ratings8 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      The cover is classic! Lift and Separate is a brilliant title for the story of a woman who is the victim of her husband's midlife crisis that he apparently waited to have until he was almost a senior citizen. I thought Marcy was way too good for a man would do what Harvey did to her. I really cheered her on. It wasn't the typical midlife crisis because they were too old for that, but she didn't just roll over and give up when he left her. She took the promotion she had been offered and created a new life that worked for her. I was glad he gave her a second chance to have the life she deserved!
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was refreshing. The characters are not perfect and they handle their imperfections with a sense of humor. The subject matter is painful, and I felt the appropriate sense of the struggle o being married for a long period of time and then having the rug pulled out from under you. But this book is written in such a way that you can relate to the sadness but understand the humor as well. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good storyline along with a sense of humor.
    • 4/5
      A funny, sometimes laugh out load story of Marcy Hammer and how she comes to terms with her husband leaving her. It is one of those stories that you just can't believe Mary could have this much happen to her in a short time, but it is very believable. I really enjoyed this book and want to know what happens next in Marcy's life.
    • 5/5
      Paperback, 304 pagesPublished December 1st 2016 by Lake Union PublishingMY REVIEW OF “LIFT AND SEPARATE”: A Novel by Marilyn Simon RothsteinKudos to Marilyn Simon Rothstein, author of “Lift and Separate” for an enjoyable,amusing, and “uplifting” novel. The genres for this novel are Women’s Fiction and Fiction. The timeline of the story is told in the present. The setting for the story is in Connecticut where the main characters live. I really love the delightful way in which the author weaves her tale around the characters.The author describes the colorful characters as complex, complicated, confused, quirky and in a few instances a few cards short of a full deck. Harvey Hammer is the head of a major global brassiere empire, and makes a lucrative living and a comfortable life for his wife Marcy and their three adult children. They have a gorgeous home and the best of everything. So what is wrong, you may ask? Marilyn loves to volunteer and is business minded. She has also been at home with her children and has done the best she can in bringing them up. She gets to have lunch with a close friend, and chat with her older Mom. Marilyn will probably tell you that Harvey is a generous tipper to a fault, and only wants the best of everything. Again, you might wonder what is wrong with this picture?Harvey is not sure what he wants. Harvey did want a well endowed 22 year old model in his lingerie department. Now he isn’t sure if he wants to come home or not. Marcy is hurt and devastated, but does lift herself up, and deal with the problems that life throws her way. There are secrets, and strained friendships, and Marcy’s children have some problems as well.Marilyn Simon Rothstein uses her storytelling ability with wonderful wit and a sense of humor, making this such an emotional, heartwarming and delightful story. I appreciate that the author discusses the importance, of family, friends, loyalty, trust, love, hope, faith and growth. I would recommend this for readers who enjoy Women’s fiction. I really enjoyed this “uplifting novel”. Happy Reading!Share
    • 4/5
      I loved the main character in this book, Marcy Hammer. She's the kind of character that is so well written and so real that you feel like you could sit down and have a cup of coffee with her. Her problems were the same problems that lots of women share. After 33 years of following all of the rules of her time - getting married (and staying married for 33 years), giving up her job and her future to take care of her husband and kids, waiting on her husband hand and foot and going along with all of his decisions - Marcy finds herself alone after her husband leaves her for a young lingerie model. At first, all she wants is to get him back, to forgive him and have their marriage get back on track. The big question throughout the book is whether she will get back with her husband and go back to the way things had been for 33 years or whether there was a real tough core under that woman who wants to fly on her own and do all of the things that she missed doing. Watching her mature and learn to take on life as it is, makes this a fantastic book to read. There are parts that are laugh out loud funny and overall, it's a great book to read with a good message on how to find happiness in life and how to find your strength in adversity.Thanks to the author for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
    • 4/5
      We've all heard the statistics that 50% of marriages end in divorce and even though that number has never actually been true, its widespread acceptance in pop culture makes us unsurprised when we hear that someone we know is getting a divorce. In actual fact, the statistic is quite complicated and is quite low for people who have been married for a long time (roughly 35 years or more). Perhaps it is this that makes us more surprised when a long time marriage fails ccoupled with the idea that the couple has presumably been through so much and weathered it together. So it makes sense that only something huge like infidelity will drive them apart. This is the case in Marilyn Simon Rothstein's surprisingly humorous and empowering novel of a woman whose husband leaves her after 33 years of marriage.Marcy and Harvey Hammer have been married for a long time. They have three grown children. Marcy has always tried to be a good, conscientious wife, helping her beloved Harvey with Bountiful Bosom, the family lingerie company, volunteering, and working part time at a local arts charity. She has put everyone else in her life first, only carving things out for herself last. But this is how she likes it; at least this is how she thinks she likes it until Harvey calls home one day and announces that he's leaving her. Eventually he admits that he's been having an affair with a 22 year old Argentinian bra fitting model and suddenly Marcy is living a cliche. As her marriage is falling to pieces, she also has to deal with her own oldest daughter's affair with a married man and her aging mother's devastating fall and sudden illness. She can hardly decide how she's going to handle Harvey and his infidelity when it's all she can do to handle the other curveballs that life is throwing her. While she works through her feelings about her husband and faces the other crises in her life, she meets Candy, a new friend juggling many of the same disasters that Marcy is but whose much appreciated connection to Marcy might be threatened.The reader can't help but feel sorry for Marcy. She's invested everything in being a wife and mother and all of a sudden she is no longer the first and isn't needed daily as the second. Her search for who she is besides these two things drives much of the novel. It is incredibly realistic in Marcy's waffling back and forth on whether or not she can take Harvey back, whether she can forgive him, and most importantly, if she wants to do either of those things and that is sometimes frustrating but always forgivable. Often conflicted about her needs and wants in her new reality, Marcy is a funny and sarcastic character. She manages to maintain a charity of spirit towards her husband, even when she is most hurting, that is lovely but not too self-effacing to be believed. The secondary characters around her are entertaining, quirky, and realistic and add a satisfying depth to the story. The plot clips along at a good pace and the writing is smooth. There is a lot of humor here but there's also a thoughtfulness and a poignancy about the end of a long marriage that takes the novel beyond the superficial. It is a fast and appealing read as the reader roots for Marcy, wonders just what decision she'll ultimately make about Harvey, and no matter what her choice, watches her become the fully rounded and fulfilled woman she should be. Recommended fun.
    • 4/5
      Marilyn Simon Rothstein's funny and poignant novel Lift And Separate opens with middle-aged Marcy Hammer in her bedroom with her best friend Dana three days after her husband Harvey has left her.Harvey is the owner of a major brassiere company, Bountiful Bosom, (whose archrival is Victoria's Secret), and he has left his wife of over thirty years, the mother of his three adult children, for a young brassiere model. It's bad enough to be left, but to be left for a cliche, well that's too much for Marcy.Rothstein writes some great scenes, like the one where Marcy goes dress shopping to find the perfect dress to win back Harvey.In the middle of all this, Marcy has to deal with her mother, who ends up in the hospital. There Marcy meets Candy, a woman who is dealing with a sick father and a mother in a nursing home with dementia. Candy and Marcy become good friends, supporting each other in this time of crisis.Soon Marcy learns something about Candy that will probably end their relationship, and this upsets Marcy. She is also dealing with her daughter Liz, a doctor who is involved in a relationship with a married man, her daughter Amanda who works for Bloomingdales and is supposed to take over the family business from dear old dad, and son Ben and how they are handling their parents' dissolving marriage, as well as her mom's illness.Through it all Marcy keeps her sense of humor and manages to dig down deep to discover what she really wants out of life. Does she want Harvey back or is she ready to be on her own?Rothstein has some funny lines that will make you chuckle, like "Mom had contributed so much 'gently used clothing' to the Salvation Army I was surprised she wasn't a general", and "I had received his name from a haggard woman in the cemetery office, who most likely was wearing the same cardigan she had thrown around her shoulders on her way to vote for Nixon."Life And Separate will appeal to woman of a certain age, as they say, and fans of Dorothea Benton Frank will also enjoy it and root for Marcy to get the happiness she deserves.Marilyn Simon Rothstein is hilarious on Facebook, and I recommend that you like her.
    • 4/5
      Lift and Separate was a terrifically fun and entertaining read. Marcy Hammer’s husband of 33 years, Harvey, informs her that he has been having an affair with a 21-year-old lingerie model. Several weeks after moving out, Harvey decides he wants to return home. Thankfully, Marcy has decided to strike out on her own and make decisions that benefit herself instead of always putting everyone else first. As she makes her way to a new life, Marcy makes new friends and comes to terms with her new life.I truly loved Marcy’s character and all three of her children. I found myself rooting for her from the beginning, and I really enjoyed seeing how she developed as the story unfolded. Marilyn Rothstein’s prose is realistic and very witty. Her writing is wonderful, and she interjects cleverness into numerous scenes such as when the family is leaving a funeral and Jeopardy is on in the background. That was my favorite scene, and I went back and read it several times. I also liked the way her relationship with Candy evolved.I definitely recommend Lift and Separate. Thanks to TLC Tours and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.