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"With compassion and sly humor, Susan Barr-Toman gives us Lucy Pescitelli, a young woman from a South Philadelphia neighborhood where good Catholics still live in the houses their parents grew up in. When Love Was Clean Underwear tells what happens after Lucy obeys seven of her mother's final eight commands, the first of which is, 'Place pillow over my face and apply firm but gentle pressure for a minimum of five minutes.' From beginning to end, I found this original, sparkling story irresistable."

-- Alice Mattison, author of Nothing is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn


"When Love Was Clean Underwear is enchanting. It is a book you will read from its glorious start to the last page without stopping. What a debut."

-- Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle


"This novel captures the pulse of life - even when I put the book down and go
about my day, I think about these characters. Barr-Toman writes with precision and wonderful humor about the human experience, and the need for forgiveness."

-- Elizabeth Cox, author of The Slow Moon


"In this beautiful first novel imagination sparks the late blooming of a most practical heart. Old family secrets and betrayals are revealed with a rare comic sweetness. Out of the tangle new life seeks daylight, sexy, romantic daylight. Susan Barr-Toman is a wonderful novelist, clear-eyed and very wise. "

-- Mary-Beth Hughes, author of Wavemaker II