A funny and moving commentary on that point in a woman's life when everything seems to come
into question. -Camille Perri The New York Times It's the superb insights and penetrating
writing that make this book remarkable... An extraordinary debut. -The Guardian Enthralling
sharply observed -Marie Claire Hilarious... The personal and workplace plots are woven together
beautifully. Read cringe laugh relate. -Lenny In this cutting commentary on workplace
toxicity and how its tendrils can strangle relationships Winter uses humor to illuminate the
state of modern work family and friendship. -Elle.com Sassy sarcastic and sleek this is a
wonderfully brash appraisal of how we live.-Colum McCann One of Elle Magazine's 19 Summer Books
That Everyone Will Be Talking About One of Cosmo's Reads for July One of Refinery29's Two New
Books to Read in July by Brilliant Debut Authors An irreverent and deeply moving comedy about
friendship fertility and fighting for one's sanity in a toxic workplace. Jen has reached her
early thirties and has all but abandoned a once-promising painting career when spurred by the
2008 economic crisis she takes a poorly defined job at a feminist nonprofit. The foundation's
ostensible aim is to empower women but staffers spend all their time devising acronyms for
imaginary programs ruthlessly undermining one another and stroking the ego of their boss the
larger-than-life celebrity philanthropist Leora Infinitas. Jen's complicity in this
passive-aggressive hellscape only intensifies her feelings of inferiority compared to her two
best friends-one a wealthy attorney with a picture-perfect family the other a passionately
committed artist-as does Jen's apparent inability to have a baby a source of existential panic
that begins to affect her marriage and her already precarious status at the office. As Break in
Case of Emergency unfolds a fateful art exhibition a surreal boondoggle adventure in Belize
and a devastating personal loss conspire to force Jen to reckon with some hard truths about
herself and the people she loves most. Jessica Winter's ferociously intelligent debut novel is
a wry satire of celebrity do-goodism as well as an exploration of the difficulty of navigating
friendships as they shift to accommodate marriage and family and the unspoken tensions that
can strain even the strongest bonds.
