Book excerpt: “Equal parts funny and searingly beautiful...well worth the ride.” — New York Daily News “Feldman’s engaging novel offers sublime levity to balance the gravity of his characters’ various struggles, and Adam’s and Marissa’s tales interweave effortlessly as they search for meaning among many doubts and what-ifs.” — Booklist “A satisfying story about chance meetings and kinship.” — Publishers Weekly “Joshua Max Feldman has written the quintessential Thanksgiving novel. START WITHOUT ME has all the ingredients for an explosive holiday and a page-turning read: the turkey dinner hastily eaten, secrets and lies, and extra servings of love and dread with the possibility of redemption.” — Marcy Dermansky, author of The Red Car “START WITHOUT ME is an exceptional novel. Following the Thanksgiving of two strangers who help each other through the catastrophic fall-out of their decisions, it’s a tender, funny, beautifully written evocation of the maelstrom of the holidays and the potential to connect.” — Zachary Mason, author of Void Star and The Lost Books of the Odyssey “Pitch-perfect.” — #1 New York Times bestselling author Christina Baker Kline “When it comes to hitting rock bottom, Joshua Max Feldman is a deft recording angel. Both in his first novel, The Book of Jonah, and now again in Start Without Me, Feldman shines a loving and unsparing light on ordinary persons at the worst moments of their lives.” — BookPage