Five Minutes in the Morning Jorgenson

By Lisa Alther

From Tennessee’s sunlit Smoky Mountains, to New York City during the Stonewall era, and ultimately to Paris, Five Minutes in Heaven follows a young woman named Jude – haunted by her dreams, ghosts, and longings – on an epic search for love, intimacy, and answers to questions she cannot allow herself to forget.

How can a childhood passion disappear in a puff of smoke…or a woman’s beauty and intelligence mask her wounds and her capacity to betray? Is it possible to find a love that satisfies both the longings of the heart and the hungers of the flesh – and are there unseen forces guiding Jude through it all?

Five Minutes in Heaven takes up the histories of Molly, Jude’s brave, indomitable childhood friend; Sandy, a gay man with a taste for danger; Anna, an infinitely desirable married woman; and Jasmine, a quintessentially elegant and enigmatic Parisienne.

With Molly, Jude experiences the tumults of childhood passion for a friend – a love that proves more fragile than anyone might have suspected. In New York City as a graduate student, she discovers barriers to intimacy she has tried to ignore. Stung, she finds refuge in love for a woman. Jude’s journey finally takes her to Paris, down the twisting corridors of her own psyche, and finally to a richer understanding of herself.

First published 1995