A collection of refreshingly honest and hilarious essays from Southern Living columnist Elizabeth Passarella about navigating change--whether emotional or logistical--and staying sane during life's unexpected twists and turns. After Elizabeth Passarella and her husband finally decided that it was time to sell their two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, she found herself wondering, Is there a proper technique for skinning a couch? The couch in question was a beloved hand-me-down from her father--who had recently passed away--and she was surprisingly reluctant to let the nine-foot, plaid, velour-covered piece of furniture go. So, out came the scissors. She kept the fabric and tossed the couch. We've all had to make decisions in our lives about what to keep and what to toss--habits, attitudes, friends, even homes. In this new collection of essays, Elizabeth explores the ups and downs of moving forward--both emotionally and logistically--with her welcome candor and sense of humor that readers have come to love. She enters into a remarkable (and strange) relationship with an elderly neighbor whose apartment she hopes to buy, examines her own stubborn stances on motherhood and therapy, and tries to come to terms with a family health crisis that brings more questions than answers. Along the way Elizabeth reminds readers that when they feel stuck or their load feels heavy, there is always light breaking in somewhere. It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway will make readers laugh, cry, and feel a little less alone as they navigate their own lives that are filled with uncertainty, change, and things beyond their control.

"For a woman who thinks of herself as a New Yorker at this point, I buy a lot of clothes from companies named things like Shrimp & Grits. Why? Because identity is complicated." Elizabeth Passarella is content with being complicated. She grew up in Memphis in a conservative Republican family with a Christian mom and a Jewish dad. Then she moved to New York, fell in love with the city--and, eventually, her husband--and changed. Sort of. While her politics have tilted to the left, she still puts her faith first, and argues that the two can go hand in hand, for what it's worth. Whether you have city lights or starry skies in your eye, Good Apple will show you that: God pursues each of us, no matter our own inconsistencies or failures There's beauty in the gray areas of our lives We can all embrace the absurdity, chaos, and strange sacredness of life that brings us together In this sharp and slyly profound memoir, Elizabeth upends stereotypes about Southerners, New Yorkers, and Christians, making a case that we are all flawed humans simply doing our best. Praise for Good Apple: "With sly humor, ecumenical warmth, and disarming frankness, Elizabeth Passarella builds bridges between red and blue and North and South. Good Apple makes a strong case for New York City as the kingdom of God--and for handwritten thank-you notes." --Ada Calhoun, author of St. Marks Is Dead, Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, and Why We Can't Sleep

A wickedly smart, utterly hilarious debut from a Southern Living columnist--a mother of three, a Southerner married to a New Yorker, an evangelical Christian, and a Democrat--about the absurdity, chaos, and strange sacredness of her life on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "The thing about being an evangelical Christian and a Southerner living in New York City, raising her children in an apartment where one of them sleeps in a closet, is that there are a lot of people in your life to disappoint." So says Elizabeth Passarella in her wry and witty debut, Good Apple. Among the people she has to disappoint are her parents in Memphis, who are bewildered by how their daughter went from interning for Ralph Reed (it's a long story) to voting for Hillary Clinton; her parents' friends, who don't understand how a family of five lives in a two-bedroom apartment; and, perhaps most of all, her colleagues and neighbors on Manhattan's Upper West Side, who are always surprised to learn that their sophisticated, irreverent friend is an evangelical Christian. Elizabeth keeps readers, no matter their faith or their politics, laughing and nodding along in solidarity, whether she is proposing the benefits of fighting with her husband on New York City street corners; explaining what it was like to grow up as a Christian with a Jewish dad; or recounting the surreal and terrifying experience of finding a rat trapped in her bedroom in her apartment on the eighth floor. Her love of the city is infectious. Her transparency about highly embarrassing screw-ups is refreshing. And her reminders of forgiveness and grace give us hope. Elizabeth is the smart, funny, red-state, blue-state, Southern, Christian New Yorker you didn't think even existed--but now want as your best friend.