Annie and her devoted but comically incompetent childhood sweetheart Sam are the owners and operators of Annie's, a gourmet sandwich shop, home to the legendary Paul Bunyan Special Sandwich—their nutritionally challenged continual source of income and marital harmony and local fame.But into their mostly charmed marriage comes a scary medical diagnosis for Annie—and the overwhelming challenge of finding a way to help Sam go on without her. Annie decides to leave Sam step-by-step instructions for a future without her and considers her own replacement in his heart and their bed. But her best-laid plans grind to a halt with the unexpected appearance of Ursula, Annie's Manhattan diva of a mother, who brings her own brand of chaos and disruption into their lives.Minus Me is a poignant and hilarious novel about the bonds of marriage, the burdens of maternal love, and the courage to face mortality.

Mameve Medwed is the author of the novels Mail, Host Family, The End of an Error, How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, Of Men and Their Mothers, and Minus Me. Her short stories, essays, and book reviews have appeared in a range of anthologies and publications, including The New York Times, Gourmet, Redbook, Ascent, and The Missouri Review. Born in Bangor, Maine (the home of Stephen King), she currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.