Coming-of-age story features journeys through the sexual revolution
BERKELEY, CA – Follow three young women on the cusp of adulthood as they explore their sexual freedom and adapt to 1970’s new ideas of feminism in award-winning author Jessica Levine’s Three Cousins (She Writes Press, Apr 8, 2025). Amidst the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the current degradation of women’s rights, author Jessica Levine looks back wistfully on the hopeful ideas and the sense of possibility that second wave feminism brought to an entire generation in the United States.
Next Gen Indie Awards winning author Jessica Levine returns to her “The Cousins Series” as she takes us back to the years before The Geometry of Love and Nothing Forgotten. Inspired by her familial relationships and personal experiences, Levine portrays the excitement and complications of the times. A story of friendship, sexual freedom, and growing up, Three Cousins explores the hurdles that three young women face as they make their way into the world. Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah’s Firefly Lane and Anita Shreve’s A Wedding in December.
About the book: It’s 1976 and three cousins share an apartment in college. Each seeks her own path in love and work, and all three, not knowing how to use the new freedoms available to them, alternate between supporting and undermining each other. Julia wants the security of a monogamous relationship. Anna plans on traveling the world to escape her boyfriend and alcoholic mother. Robin, who is bisexual, dreams of open relationships. All fall for a charismatic musician, Michael, who is too wounded to be available. By the end of a year of experiments and necessary mistakes, the cousins have made crucial decisions that will determine the course of the rest of their lives.
Three Cousins
Jessica Levine | April 8, 2025 | She Writes Press | Fiction
Paperback | 978-1647428686 | $17.99
Ebook | 978-1647428686 | $12.99
About Jessica Levine
Jessica holds a B.A. from Wellesley College, an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was a Mellon Fellow. After receiving her Ph.D., she decided not to pursue an academic teaching career, but to become a hypnotherapist. She trained at HTI (Hypnotherapy Training Institute) and has been practicing for 20 years. Jessica also has had a rich and varied experience teaching creative writing, composition, and literature in universities, high school, adult education, and the private sector. In 2014-15, Jessica held workshops on writing the novel at the American Library in Paris. Previously, she taught at the University of Toronto, New York University, and the University of California at Berkeley. She is the author not only of novels but also of a literary history, Delicate Pursuit: Discretion in Henry James and Edith Wharton. Visit her at her website.
Follow Jessica Levine on social media
Facebook: JessicaLevineWriter | Instagram: @jlcreativearts
Praise for Jessica Levine
Winner Next Generation Indie Book Award (Second Novel)
Finalist Next Generation Indie Book Award (General Fiction)
First Place, Northern California Publishers Association (General Fiction)
Merit, CIPA EVVY Book Award, (Women’s Fiction)
“A vivid travelogue . . . reminded me of the Italian television series . . . that proved compulsively engrossing, ‘The Best of My Youth,’ . . . delicious insights into Italian life.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
“Fans of Emma Straub, Anne Tyler, and Liane Moriarty will adore Levine’s treatment of domestic drama . . . . Immersing the reader in Roman decadence and San Francisco’s modernity, Nothing Forgotten is an intricately layered, deeply heartfelt, and bittersweet novel.”
— Booklist, Starred Review
“. . . an example of women’s fiction at its best. Its exploration of history, memory, family, and the particular struggles of women looking for experiences and love is enjoyable, memorable, and thought-provoking all at once.”
— Foreword Reviews
“A richly detailed story of passion and failure, deception and honesty, with anticipation and nostalgia. It is about making hard choices and living with those decisions, and the twisted ties that hold a family together.”
— Story Circle Book Review
2015 Top Ten Women’s Fiction Title — American Library Association’s Booklist
“Spanning 1987 to 2004, the novel’s scope and sweeping character arcs will appeal to fans of Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings . . . Julia’s emotions, insecurities, and pleasures are laid bare and recall Isadora Wing in Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying . . . An outstanding first novel.”
— Booklist, starred review
“Jessica Levine has crafted a lyrical and realistic examination of the complications and exhilarations of romantic entanglements. . . . Julia is a compelling and relatable protagonist. “
— Foreword Reviews
In an interview, Jessica Levine can discuss:
- How Jessica drew inspiration from her family and her cousins to create her series
- Why she decided to write a prequel to her “The Cousins” series and how all the books in her series intertwine
- The successes and disappointments of the women’s movement since the 1970s and why the young women of today are less optimistic about work, relationships, and women’s rights
- How her three main characters portray various ways women approached the new freedoms created by second-wave feminism
- Why the mothers of each character are deeply rooted into the story and how they play a crucial role in the upbringing of each woman
- How her Jewish identity has played a crucial role in her journey through spirituality and influences her writing
An Interview with Jessica Levine
- Discuss the other two books in this series. How does Three Cousins connect to them?
The Cousins Series will ultimately consist of five novels, of which two are yet to be written, that follow three women from their early 20s into their sixties. The books can be read in chronological order or as standalones. Whereas Three Cousins follows Julia, Anna, and Robin in their last year of college, The Geometry of Love focuses on Julia in her early 30s with a fast-forward to ten years later, and Nothing Forgotten starts with Anna in her 40s with flashbacks to her life in Rome in her early 20s. The next novel I write will concern Robin in middle age and her twenty-something daughter.
- How did your relationship with your cousins and your family inspire your series?
A cousin of mine who has read my previous two novels said to me, “Everything in here feels familiar, but I don’t recognize anyone.” That was my aim. I took the structure and history of my family and played freely with it, inventing characters that would contrast with each other in dramatic ways. My family did indeed inspire my series; however, I have sought to reinvent it in order to address the obstacles that my generation and my mother’s generation have faced: the lack of female role models, the frustrating expectations placed on women, and the disappointments of intimate relationships and the workplace.
- How have you seen the women’s movement change from the time period of Three Cousins to today?
Over the past 40-50 years, the women’s movement has had its successes and failures. Ground that was gained has been lost (Dobbs v. Jackson) and some ground was never won (the E.R.A.); however, Title IX, #metoo, and gay marriage would never have happened without the feminist fight. What a mix, and how do we sort it out? On the one hand, the basics we fought for (universal childcare, women’s health, maternal leave, etc) have not been achieved. On the other hand, the LGBQT movement has made gains, more women have entered the professions, and marriage is no longer destiny.
Unfortunately what I’m seeing at present is discouragement and battle fatigue that predate the Trump victory. Many young, straight women have “given up” on men and relationships. They don’t discuss the patriarchy or male privilege, etc. anymore. They just look at each other and roll their eyes as in, “Gals, we all know that guys are hopeless, so why even talk about it? Just order another round of drinks.” Many women who actually are in heterosexual relationships aren’t much happier once the honeymoon phase is over. They often feel manipulated and gaslit by the other sex. The fundamental sense of men and women as different “species” speaking different languages has only deepened. The silver lining is that this alienation has opened up a space in which the non-binary, trans, and queer communities are inviting us to imagine things differently.
- How has your practice as a hypnotherapist influenced your writing?
My understanding of the development and evolution of personality has been enriched by the countless stories that I’ve been privileged to hear as a therapist. My writing reflects my understanding of “the journey of life” which I’d summarize as follows: most people have childhood wounds that send them on a quest for emotional survival strategies. If those strategies are successful, they can develop a personal philosophy that gives meaning to their lives. The Cousins Series as a whole will ultimately dramatize the arc from youthful hopes through the struggles and frustrations of mid-life to the wisdom–and/or bitterness–of our later years. For women, that arc has particular challenges and inflections that I hope to capture.
A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent.
Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.
