“Cheryl J. Fish’s ingenious, smart, and witty debut novel follows three compelling characters as their lives and desires

intertwine. On or o the yoga mat, these characters attempt to expand their emotional as well as bodily exibility while

battling jealousy, rejection, and the stranglehold of the past. Fish’s deep knowledge of yoga and of the psychological,

geographical, and sensory terrain renders this ambitious novel absorbing and impressive. Once I started reading I couldn’t

stop. Just like her characters, we can nd ourselves carried away. Once I started reading I couldn’t stop. Just like her characters,

we can nd ourselves carried away.”

—Lee Upton,Visitations: Stories

“Cheryl J. Fish's debut novel OFF THE YOGA MAT is smart, soulful, and surprising. I found myself deeply touched by the

struggles of her awed characters as they negotiate work, love, and dumpster diving.”

—Bonnie Jo Campbell, Once Upon a River, American Salvage and Mothers Tell Your Daughters

“So much fun to peer beyond the cover to see and relive NYC—and beyond—in 1999! The loves of academics, scholars,

yoga instructors, the business world—what has remained the same and what has changed—an entertaining, fascinating

message oating across time.”

—Tama Janowitz, A Cannibal in Manhattan

"Three characters on the cusp of middle age search for emotional connection and meaningful work in this romp through

dumpster-diving, Finnish saunas, yoga, toxic graduate school, erotic attraction, and the pursuit of family. Fish oers both a

light touch and biting observations of self-reinvention, compromise, and creativity, as Lulu, Nora, and Nate try to gure out

how to adult. A smart and funny read."

—Ellen Meeropol, Her Sister’s Tattoo

Publicist: Mary Bisbee Beek.

Brooklyn Book Fair