“This Beautiful Life,” Helen Schulman’s new novel, is about the devastating impact a teenager’s five-second sexting episode has on his family’s life.  After he forwards an explicit video emailed to him by an 8th grade admirer, events spiral out of control and the family faces national media attention, an online defamation lawsuit and the need to salvage their reputation.

Hannah Gersen’s New York Observer review provides insight into how they cope while “doomed, caught in the crosshairs of the Internet.”

“Although This Beautiful Life will probably not remain relevant for very many years, for now it’s a good reminder of the complicated ways in which the Internet seeps in to our private lives and changes them, for better and for worse,” she writes.