In Nine Lives (Brandylane, 2025), a woman in her eighties, born during the Great Depression to Jewish immigrants, unveils her intimate self-transformations in the course of nine decades. 

Determined at an early age to prove herself a free spirit in a male-dominated world, as a young adult Claire Kahane (English, University of Buffalo (emerita) and English, UC Berkeley (visiting scholar)) went on the road, hitchhiking her way into and out of risky adventures and romantic affairs, ceaselessly chasing new experiences. But what started out as a “road book” takes a different turn in midlife when, influenced by the insights of psychoanalysis and feminism, she became a feminist professor, mother, and wife. 

She is joined by Elizabeth Abel (English).