The Life Plan by Sybil Baker Fiction · Paperback · 192 pages ISBN 978-1-934081-16-7 · Out of Print Click on cover image to see full-size version

What would you do if your carefully planned life was falling apart?

Like many women, Kat Miller dreams of having a satisfying career, a loving family, and a house of her own. But Kat has taken things further than most, documenting her dreams in a "Life Plan," so that nothing will go wrong. Yet something has: Dan, her husband of five years. Kat suspects that Dan, recently unemployed, is spending more time in yoga class with his beautiful classmate than he is looking for a job. When Dan announces that he has enrolled in a massage course in Thailand, Kat is convinced she has to go with him to save her marriage.

From the offices of Washington, DC, to the gritty streets of Bangkok to the mountain region of Chiang Mai, from the serenity of ancient Buddhist ruins to the passion of the jungle to all-night beach parties, Kat narrates her quest to have it all, only to wonder if having it all is all there is.

"Here is the American abroad who is neither ugly, nor quiet, nor lost in translation: rather, she is a heroine for our times, unafraid of confronting life as it is. You love Kat for her vulnerability, even as you laugh out loud at her convoluted, comic careening through the world." - Xu Xi, author of Evanescent Isles and The Unwalled City

"The Life Plan is a screwball comedy for the 21st century, a witty and winning romp through one woman's discovery that life, love, and liberty do not always go according to plan." - Robert Eversz, author of the Nina Zero novels

Click here to read a review of The Life Plan and short interview with Sybil at the Misadventures with Andi blog.

Click here to read a review of The Life Plan at the Printed Page blog.

Click here to read a review of The Life Plan at The New Book Review website.

Click here to read the first chapter of The Life Plan.

Sybil Baker spent twelve years teaching in South Korea prior to accepting a position as an assistant professor of English at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga after earning her MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. During her extensive travels throughout Asia, she became increasingly interested in the allure and alienation of American travelers and expatriates, and this has heavily influenced her writing. Her fiction and essays have appeared in numerous journals, including upstreet, The Bitter Oleander, Paper Street, and Alehouse. Her essay on American expatriate literature appeared in AWP's The Writer's Chronicle in September 2005. Her website can be found at www.sybilbaker.com.