From the publisher:
The Husbands delights in asking: how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options?
When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.
As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA’S APRIL BOOK CLUB PICK • NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR FROM THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE STAR TRIBUNE
“Delightfully addictive. . . a bottomless champagne flute of a novel” —The Washington Post
“A charming speculative novel about a woman’s difficulty settling on a mate. . . there’s plenty of intelligence and candor in the author’s creative spin on the conundrum of commitment.” —Publishers Weekly
“The plot allows the author to explore current attitudes and approaches to dating and mating from a fresh perspective… A fun take on a big question.” —Kirkus
https://amzn.to/44s8rdu
Cue the Twilight Zone music…
Lauren meets her husband Michael for the first time when she gets home late one night. He’s there, in her apartment. Except she’s not married. Never been married. And not surprisingly, she freaks out a bit.
Luckily, we all have records of our lives that we hold in our hands – our phones. Sure enough, there are lots of pictures with Michael and their wedding and their friends. Her apartment looks better, too. But still, Lauren just doesn’t know what to think about this. Or how to get out of it.
Then she figures out that there is something going on in her attic. When Michael goes up to the attic, a different husband comes down. She tries it again and again and again – one husband goes up, and a new husband comes down. And different aspects of her life also change. She’s usually in the same apartment, but the decor and level of tidiness changes from husband to husband. Once she marries rich and finds out her apartment is now an Airbnb and she lives in an enormous mansion in the English countryside. Her jobs also change – she works for the town council, but sometimes she has other occupations. Once she’s been promoted at her original job. Sometimes there’s more money and sometimes there’s less. Some husbands are better looking, some are kinder or more interesting. She keeps some for only a minute or two, some for a day or two, and a few make it for a few weeks here and there.
Lauren experiences a couple of hundred husbands before the realization hits that she needs to end this endless parade somehow. The ending was unexpected yet not, but this book is really about the journey. It was an interesting read but not really a quick read for me. It took me a few days to get through it, but interestingly, I found myself telling my husband and daughter about it every night at dinner. I don’t usually talk about the books I’m reading unless I either think one or both of them would find it interesting or I just need to bounce my thoughts off someone. They were interested enough to ask questions and engage in conversation, even though neither had read it. This is a book that begs discussion for a lot of reasons, so if your book group is in need of something different, something hopeful instead of depressing (as I find most discussion books,) this is a great option. This compelling read had the most unusual premise and was completely thought provoking, and it topped the Library Reads April book list. Highly recommend!
5/2024 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE HUSBANDS by Holly Gramazio. Doubleday (April 2, 2024). ISBN: 978-0385550611. 352p.
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