Welcome to Litsy!

Texting Olivia is a funny, fast-paced, modern take on the epistolary novel, using phone texts and calls instead of letters as the main form of communication between mothers and daughters.Fay is a paralegal in her forties with thwarted career ambitions, which she blames on her mother. Indeed, she has done almost everything opposite to her own upbringing in raising Olivia. But Fay's assumptions are put to the test when she and her husband take a frustrating trip from New Jersey to San Francisco to help Olivia move out of her dorm. On the first day, Olivia can't see her parents because she's studying for finals. The second day, she begs off to finish a project. And so it goes. The couple spend the time visiting tourist spots instead of bonding with their daughter. As the days pass, Fay is confronted with Olivia's patent selfishness and irresponsibility and her husband's growing criticism of her parenting skills, while her overbearing mother's persistent phone calls only exacerbate her feelings of futility and failure. Fay is forced to scrutinize all the meaningful relationships in her life and the parts she plays. But can she come to terms with what she should hold on to and what she must let go?