"This is a rare thing: an original, intelligent novel that's not just a perfect summer beach read, but one that deserves serious awards consideration as well. Put down your phone and pick it up. . . . A major accomplishment."-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) From the co-creator of How I Met Your Mother , a hilarious and thought-provoking debut novel set in New York City, following an unforgettable cast of characters as they navigate life, love, loss, ambition, and spirituality--without ever looking up from their phones It's the summer of 2015, and Alice Quick needs to get to work. She's twenty-eight years old, grieving her mother, barely scraping by as a nanny, and freshly kicked out of her apartment. If she can just get her act together and sign up for the MCAT, she can start chasing her dream of becoming a doctor . . . but in the Age of Distraction, the distractions are so distracting. There's her tech millionaire brother's religious awakening. His picture-perfect wife's emotional breakdown. Her chaotic new roommate's thirst for adventure. And, of course, there's the biggest distraction of all: love. From within the story of one summer in one woman's life, a tapestry of characters is unearthed, tied to one another by threads both seen and unseen. Filled with all the warmth, humor, and heart that gained How I Met Your Mother its cult following, The Mutual Friend captures in sparkling detail the chaos of contemporary life--a life lived simultaneously in two different worlds, the physical one and the one behind our screens--and reveals how connected we all truly are.