Summer’s Hottest Book Explores Women’s Desire

They say that art takes sacrifice, but in the case of Washington, Conn., author and journalist Lisa Taddeo, it also takes nerves of steel. In order to find “protagonists” for Taddeo’s groundbreaking nonfiction examination of desire, “Three Women,” Taddeo crisscrossed the country in a beat-up car with a stack of printed flyers and some pushpins for the better part of ten years. In Starbucks, in Whole Foods, Scotch-taped above baby-changing stations in public restrooms in Indiana, Arkansas, North Dakota, Taddeo entreated: Do you have a story about desire? Do you want to talk to me?

“I would go into bars with my baby in a sling and ask strangers when the last time they had sex was,” Taddeo, said in an interview last week, laughing about her analog approach. “It got a little creepy.” But she was on the hunt for stories about yearning, and as a long­time journalist, Taddeo knew that the best stories would be the ones she had to work the hardest to find.

A number-one New York Times bestseller, “Three Women” (Avid Reader Press) immerses us in the daily lives of three American women —strangers to each other — who lead us, hour by hour, deeper into their heart’s stories of yearning and desire. We meet Lina, an Indiana homemaker in a sexless marriage who is starting an affair with an old high school flame; Maggie, a high schooler in North Dakota pulled into an all-consuming relationship with one of her male teachers; and Sloane, a glamorous, aloof restaurateur in Newport, R.I., who has an open marriage that is far too open for some.

After interviewing hundreds of people, Taddeo honed in on the handful of subjects who interested her the most—all women, as it turned out. She moved across the country multiple times to live near these individuals —and not just for several weeks here and there for research. In one example, she uprooted her family to live in Indiana for three years, a sacrifice that saw her screenwriter husband putting his fine art degree in photography to use at a local Kmart, where he took holiday photos of customers with orange pumpkins on their babies’ heads and of rose-cheeked men masked in Santa beards. They moved so many times that when Taddeo’s toddler said, “I miss our house!,” her mother answered,  “Which one?”

The gamble paid off, the sacrifice was worth it. Addictive, alarming, sensual and provocative, “Three Women” will upend many people’s preconceptions of what female desire is and looks like — while also examining the sensitive and fastidious ways some women decision-make and think. Readers can meet the intrepid local author in person when Taddeo comes to The White Hart Speakers Series on Aug. 6th. Until then, Taddeo may be found self-medicating with an Arethusa Farm chocolate milkshake pondering her next move.

The White Hart Speaker Series features Lisa Taddeo on Aug. 6, 6 p.m., 15 Undermountain Road., Salisbury, CT. The event is free but you need  to RSVP.  For reservations go to www.whitehartinn.com/new-events.