by Katherine Heiny
Until my book-swapping friend A. lent me this paperback, I'd never heard of the book or the author, but I'm glad she included it with the pile of books she brought last time, because I enjoyed it.
Graham and Audra live in New York with their son Matthew. On the surface, they have rather ordinary, typical modern lives: Both of them work (Audra from home), their son goes to school (he has Asperger's), and they divide their spare time between doing things as a family or with friends. Husband and wife enjoy a glass of wine in the evening, Graham is a great cook and Audra a great networker - she talks to anyone and everone about anything and everything, and remembers details about even the most remote acquaintances AND their children's friends.
But things are not quite so ordinary as they appear. (Are they ever?)
Audra is Graham's second wife; he left his first wife for her. Elspeth was the complete opposite of Audra: Cool, composed, logical-minded, elegant, quiet. Audra is bubbly, passionate, emotional and has little (if any) social inhibitions.
The divorce from Elspeth wasn't amicable, and Graham has not been in touch with her for years until one day there is a request to meet her when an elderly aunt dies and leaves them both a bequest.
To his surprise, Graham finds Elspeth's coolness and quiet temper soothing, and although he loves Audra and their son, and Elspeth is in a relationship, after a few meetings with both couples, Graham and Elspeth start seeing each other alone at her flat, cooking wonderful meals and slipping into the comfort of the familiarity they once had. Then Elspeth suggests they take things further...
What will Graham do? Risk everything he has with his second wife and son, or reject and hurt his first wife a second time?
And what's Audra been up to, coming out of a hotel all dressed nicely when Graham bumps into her on the street?
There is so, so much more going on in the book. But you can imagine that having a child with Asperger's brings its own challenges, as well as Audra's habit to instantly offer their den as a place to stay to whoever needs to get out of their own place for whatever reason.
Love, friendship, family, trust - it's all there. The characters are fully fleshed out; one of my favourites is Graham's very young, very naive assistant Olivia. Dialogue is never "wooden", and there are some really funny bits while sometimes you don't know whether you want to giggle or roll your eyes or sigh with sadness at the same time.
Katherine Heiny was born in 1968, the same year as I. This was her first novel (published in 2017). You can find out more about her on wikipedia or on her own website.
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