Learn more
These promotions will be applied to this item:
Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.
Audiobook Price: $13.52$13.52
Save: $6.03$6.03 (45%)
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the author
OK
The Fixed Stars: A Memoir Kindle Edition
At age thirty-six, while serving on a jury, author Molly Wizenberg found herself drawn to a female attorney she hardly knew. Married to a man for nearly a decade and mother to a toddler, Wizenberg tried to return to her life as she knew it, but something inside her had changed irrevocably. Instead, she would discover that the trajectory of our lives is rarely as smooth or as logical as we’d like to believe.
Like many of us, Wizenberg had long understood sexual orientation as a stable part of ourselves: we’re “born this way.” Suddenly she realized that her story was more complicated. Who was she if something at her very core could change so radically?
Wizenberg forges a new path: through separation and divorce, coming out to family and friends, learning to co-parent a young child, and realizing a new vision of love. The Fixed Stars is a “spirited, terrifyingly courageous” memoir exploring timely and timeless questions about desire, identity, and the limits and possibilities of family (Booklist).

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Customers who bought this item also bought
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A work of blindsiding beauty."―Nell Beram, Shelf Awareness
“The Fixed Stars is a nuanced look into two subjects frequently depicted as binary: love and sexuality. Wizenberg writes of her journey into queerness with tenderness and curiosity, two essential qualities for any sort of entry into new lands. This book spoke directly to my heart. Read it.”―Esmé Weijun Wang, author of The Collected Schizophrenias
“In The Fixed Stars, Molly Wizenberg tackles the ever-shifting issues of marriage, motherhood, and sexual orientation with the same compassion and unflinching honesty that have become the hallmarks of her writing. She makes the everyday extraordinary and brings depth and complexity to the bigger questions in life. A beautiful read.”―Erica Bauermeister, author of The Scent Keeper
“The Fixed Stars, like its protagonist, is both brave and sexy, both heady and bodily, and I ripped through this memoir like it was the most erudite romance novel in the world. This is a truly compelling look at sexuality, marriage, and parenthood in this century.” ―Emma Straub, author of All Adults Here and The Vacationers
“Interwoven throughout with research insights into the complexity of female sexual identity, Wizenberg's book not only offers a glimpse into the shifting nature of selfhood; it also celebrates one woman's hard-won acceptance of her own sexual difference. A courageous and thought-provoking memoir.”―Kirkus Reviews
“Wizenberg is an excellent writer; her meditations on what it means to know yourself—or think you know yourself—and how unpredictable and exciting life really is are a joy to read.”―Electric Literature
“This is a spirited, terrifyingly courageous, and searingly honest memoir of discovering sexual identity and strength.”―Booklist
“The Fixed Stars is a beautiful memoir about desire, divorce, coming out to family and friends and co-parenting through separation.”
―Parade
“a touching look at modern love and life”―Bustle
“Through personal recollections, told in quietly beautiful prose you feel the urge to read out loud, she examines what happens before, during and after a seismic shift. A welcome reminder that sometimes feeling lost and found go hand-in-hand”―A Cup of Jo
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B07WH2TZB4
- Publisher : ABRAMS Press (August 4, 2020)
- Publication date : August 4, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 2.0 MB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 256 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #504,100 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #252 in LGBTQ+ Biographies & Memoirs
- #795 in LGBTQ+ Biographies (Books)
- #2,022 in Biographies & Memoirs of Women
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Molly Wizenberg is the bestselling author of three memoirs: The Fixed Stars (Abrams Press, 2020), A Homemade Life (Simon & Schuster, 2009), and Delancey (Simon & Schuster, 2014). She was also, for 15 years, the voice behind the James Beard Award-winning blog Orangette. With author Matthew Amster-Burton, she co-hosts the hit food-and-comedy podcast Spilled Milk -- now celebrating ten years of bad jokes -- and, once upon a time, she co-founded the Seattle restaurants Delancey and Essex. She lives in Seattle.
http://mollywizenberg.com
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book's stories engaging and appreciate its readability, particularly noting it's a great read for those questioning their lives. The writing quality receives positive feedback, with customers describing the author as a fine writer.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Select to learn more
Customers enjoy the stories in the book, with one noting how the author presents a difficult narrative with grace.
"I used to follow Molly's blog Orangette. Great recipes with great stories. Then I had children and stopped reading...." Read more
"This author writes beautifully. I enjoyed the story and her real style. I read it for a book club and we had a lot to talk about...." Read more
"Interesting story." Read more
"The author tells a complicated and difficult story with grace and ease. The language, as beautiful as it is, never gets in the way of the story...." Read more
Customers find the book highly readable, particularly for those questioning their own lives, with one customer noting it offers a fresh voice to modern memoirs and another describing it as a wonderful book about being human.
"...She adds a fresh voice to modern memoirs, and she has helped me try to understand a bit of what my peers, students, and friends’ kids who are..." Read more
"...Led me to reading this book. A wonderful book about being human...." Read more
"...Molly’s writing has a detached yet deeply insightful air, and I feel as if I could read her write about literally anything." Read more
"This is a great read if you are questioning, researching, or simply enjoy a good story. Add it to your TBR list." Read more
Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book, with one noting its detached style.
"...In spite of the cons above, Ms. Wizenberg is such a fine writer, her artistry very nearly overcomes any perceived negatives in the storyline - I..." Read more
"This author writes beautifully. I enjoyed the story and her real style. I read it for a book club and we had a lot to talk about...." Read more
"Everything I wanted and waited for this book to be. Molly’s writing has a detached yet deeply insightful air, and I feel as if I could read her..." Read more
Reviews with images

Honest Memoir about the fluidity of sexuality
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2020We are all on a journey through life, some embrace it, some don’t. Molly Wizenberg goes a step further and takes us with her to places we never thought possible. At the age of 39, Molly changes her lifestyle from married, mother, writer to single, queer, Mother, writer.
It all begins in court, Molly was invited to jury duty and became a juror on a trial. She became Infatuated with the lawyer who wore a man’s suit but was female. Mass confusion for Molly, she told Brandon, her husband that she had a crush on this lawyer, and they talked it out. Several months later, Molly and Nora, the lawyer, met again and began an affair. Molly was not looking for change, she thought, but here she was. Throughout this time she and Brandon were in couple’s therapy, and they discussed this situation, and decided an open marriage would work. Molly was particularly cognizant of their daughter, June, who was 7. The affair with Nora did not work out, but Molly and Brandon separated as Molly realized she was no longer interested in being his wife, but a good friend.
Molly did a lot of emotional work on who she really was, what she was looking for, and looking at love and sexuality. In this book Molly shares what she finds, exploring her sexuality, and reading everything she could find. She is quite successful in discussing subjects most people would rather leave alone. This is an open book that is one of the best I have read on separating love and sexuality. Telling her story, Molly gives us insight into other people’s reactions when she told them why she and Brandon had separated and divorced. Molly and Brandon had been able to keep their friendship, and we’re bringing up June in two households full of love. Brandon is a successful restauranteur, and Molly realized that as a white female, she was given more latitude to make her changes, which is an important aspect. Within a year, Molly found another love, Ash, and this is a much more successful relationship. The toil and trouble of finding oneself in the midst of difficult change is well documented.
Molly is a writer, and this book reflects her exceptional talent. From starting her blog Orangette many years ago through her two books, now third, she has found her true voice.
Recommended. prisrob 08-06-2020
- Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2020After enjoying Molly Wizenberg's two earlier books, I was looking forward to the release of this one. The subject matter is not a usual read for me, however, I do think this author is an exceptional writer and on that basis, I made the purchase.
As another reviewer mentioned, the use of plural pronouns to refer to the non-binary character almost ruined the last 1/3 or so of the book for me. Each time I came across this language, it set my teeth on edge, forcing me to read sentences a second time for clarity. The narrative itself was a bit too explicit for my preference, but then again, I knew what the subject was beforehand, so I have only myself to blame.
In spite of the cons above, Ms. Wizenberg is such a fine writer, her artistry very nearly overcomes any perceived negatives in the storyline - I wish her well and hope to read her next work in the not too distant future...
- Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2021I discovered Molly Wizenberg’s first book in an airport bookstore. I read her second book right after it came out. I noticed her blog was only updated intermittently, and over the past year and more, I learned about the major changes her life has undergone, and her new family structure. She has written about her experiences with candor and gentleness. I imagine it took a lot of courage to do this, both by Molly and her loved ones, as it is their story also. She adds a fresh voice to modern memoirs, and she has helped me try to understand a bit of what my peers, students, and friends’ kids who are LGBTQIA are experiencing. Life is short, and it takes courage to be true to oneself. I hope she will write more books, and I think she should be proud of this one as well as the first two.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2020Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: The Fixed Stars
Author: Molly Wizenberg
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Diversity: Lesbian side character love interest. MC is exploring their sexual identity.
Recommended For...: sexual exploration, memoirs
Publication Date: August 4, 2020
Genre: Autobiography
Recommended Age: 16+ (sexual content, divorce)
Publisher: Abrams Press
Pages: 256
Synopsis: At age 36, while serving on a jury, author Molly Wizenberg found herself drawn to a female attorney she hardly knew. Married to a man for nearly a decade and mother to a toddler, Wizenberg tried to return to her life as she knew it, but something inside her had changed irredeemably. Instead, she would discover that the trajectory of our lives is rarely as smooth or as logical as we’d like to believe.
Like many of us, Wizenberg had long understood sexual orientation as a stable part of ourselves: we’re “born this way.” Suddenly she realized that her story was more complicated. Who was she, she wondered, if something at her very core could change so radically? The Fixed Stars is a taut, electrifying memoir exploring timely and timeless questions about desire, identity, and the limits and possibilities of family. In honest and searing prose, Wizenberg forges a new path: through the murk of separation and divorce, coming out to family and friends, learning to co-parent a young child, and realizing a new vision of love. The result is a frank and moving story about letting go of rigid definitions and ideals that no longer fit, and learning instead who we really are.
Review: I really loved this memoir about the author’s exploration into her own sexuality and her lifestyle. It takes courage to explore after your 20s (I know from experience) and I really admire the author and her journey. The writing is the thing that I think tripped me up in this book. The author lists facts and quotes but doesn’t dig down to explain how they apply to her situation and what she thinks of them. The book comes alive when the author talks about her girlfriend, but other than that the book is a bit weird. It’s intimate, then not. It’s the book embodiment of hot and cold.
Verdict: It’s a great book if you’re the friend who sits and listens to their BFFs rant, but other than that I would like to see it fleshed out more.
Top reviews from other countries
- Sam in AustraliaReviewed in Australia on August 16, 2020
3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not quite what I expected
I did enjoy this to a point. I found the author to be a bit unemotional, which I wasn't expecting, and this was jarring. I got lost in the 'queer theory' towards the end, and wanted more 'story'.