Eve Gleichman’s short stories have appeared in the Kenyon Review, the Harvard Review, Bomb Daily, and elsewhere. The Very Nice Box: A Novel (Mariner Books), her offbeat and wryly funny debut novel with co-author Laura Blackett, follows Ava Simon, an eccentric product engineer who works for a hip furniture company where sweeping corporate change lands her under the purview of a startlingly charismatic boss who seems determined to get close to her at all costs. Ava is hard-working, obsessive, and heartbroken from a tragedy that killed her girlfriend and upended her life. It’s been years since she’s let anyone in. Then her new boss – the young and magnetic Mat Putnam – offers her a ride home one afternoon and a relationship blossoms. Ava remembers how rewarding it can be to open up and, despite her instincts, becomes enamored. But Mat isn’t who he claims to be, and the romance takes a sharp turn. The Very Nice Box is at once a sendup of male entitlement and a big-hearted account of grief, friendship, and trust. Booklist noted that “this nicely hard-to-define joint debut combines workplace satire, steamy romance, and genuine suspense.”
