Long Island supermoms tour

It's the Jaded Suburban Supermom World Tour.

Well, it's just three gigs this month on Long Island, but Ellen Meister of

Jericho and Saralee Rosenberg of Dix Hills hope it's the beginning of a

literary circuit.

Meister and Rosenberg are two Long Island moms with a whole lot in common:

Both have three children. Both are around the same age. (Meister won't give

hers, but Rosenberg says she's 53.) Both have husbands in finance, and both had

similar careers in marketing and adverting before the kids arrived. Both live

on Long Island, in communities known for Lexuses in the driveway and impossible

expectations everywhere else.

And - the clincher - both are authors who write about life in Long Island

suburbia and whose new books are being published this summer by Avon.

When a publicist suggested a joint appearance, "I thought, 'How on Earth is

it possible that I never heard of this woman?'" recalls Meister, whose second

book, "The Smart One" ($13.95 paperback) about three sisters grappling with

their childhood identities, was published last week. "We were like two

characters in a romantic comedy who kept showing up five minutes apart and kept

missing each other."

And when they finally met, "we just clicked like old friends," Meister

says. "Now we speak three times a day."

Rosenberg, who grew up in Indiana, moved to Long Island after her early

married life in Manhattan gave way to the reality - and square-footage

requirements - of raising a family. Feeling "the need to lament" the

conspicuous consumption and constant one-upping of suburban life, she submitted

an essay to The New York Times - and was shocked to see "But the Doctor Said

to Push" make it into print.

"We had no disposable income - we just had disposable diapers," jokes

Rosenberg about those days.

Rosenberg's fourth book, "Dear Neighbor, Drop Dead" ($13.95 paperback) is a

reworking of her first novel, which had been optioned by Bette Midler but

never made it into print or onto the screen. Like all her novels - and

Meister's - it is set on the Island, dealing with warring housewife neighbors

who find detente in one's personal tragedy.

Both Meister and Rosenberg's careers benefitted from an interest in chick

lit and, thanks to the breakout success of the campy TV series "Desperate

Housewives," in the seething moments behind manicured lawns and Starbucks

drive-throughs. In the wake of the show, Rosenberg notes, editors were

demanding, "Quick, get me stories about bickering housewives!"

In that, Long Island provided ample inspiration.

Meet the authors

Thursday at 7 p.m.,

Book Revue, Huntington, 631-271-1442.

Aug. 19 at 7 p.m.,

Barnes & Noble,

Carle Place, 516-741-9850.

Aug. 23 at 2 p.m.,

Barnes & Noble,

Lake Grove, 631-724-0341.