The Seductions of Natalie Bach is a compelling first novel about irrepressible Natalie Bach, who is coming of age in the giddy turbulence of New York in the sixties. Kennedy is shot, the Village is pulsing, and Natalie flees her family and upper-middle-class Jewish background to discover life on her own terms. She haunts the apartment of her friend and former teacher, Maxine, a steamy seductress whose intensity matches Natalie's. Charged with urgency and confusion, their friendship blossoms into a love affair, leaving Natalie confused about her sexual identity.
Natalie's journey of self-discovery takes her cross-country to live in the redwoods, to Israel, and back to New York again. She is both seduced and seductress, a headstrong girl who epitomizes the rebellious spirit of the sixties, defying convention to live life on her own terms. The Seductions of Natalie Bach is the stunning debut of a writer with a fresh and original voice.
"One of the best works of fiction about that pregnant decade [the '60's], comparable to Marge Piercy's Small Changes and Lisa Alther's Kinflicks." John Gabree, Newsday
"This is a tale of lost sexual innocence, female relationships and growing up. Perhaps the most striking thing about "The Seductions of Natalie Bach" is Luvaas' writing style. He tumbles onto the pages in an explosion of original phrases and descriptions to produce a novel that is not only fun to read but also full of surprises."
Joyce Demma Bertshy, The Arizona Daily Star
"This is not a book to rush through, looking for the sexy parts. It's too well-written for that. One needs to savor the small surprises in the language. And, besides, there are plenty of sexy parts as Natalie struggles through sexual uncertainties on her defiant, careening course toward womanhood." Eleanor Martin, Sunday Magazine, The Times Herald Record
"The writing breathes life into characters who, for all their off-the-wall antic humanity, remain real to the reader, vulnerable, capable of tragic implications....a novel by turns warm, coy, sad and funny, always human, and ultimately heroic." Doug Marx, BookMarx, Willamette Week