From Publishers Weekly
In bestselling British novelist Green's sixth novel, a less-than-perfect London marriage disintegrates stateside. Alice loves her husband, the dashing Joe Chambers, even though he works late and travels a lot—he can be so wonderful (when he's around) and she still can't believe he picked mousy little her. (Of course, he transformed her into a blonde-highlighted, Jimmy Choo–sporting sophisticate first.) Blind to Joe's incessant philandering—even after an office sex act gets him banished to New York—Alice accepts his guilt gifts and hopes for the best. She doesn't want to leave her London life, but she's always loved nature and the rustic life, so Joe buys, in addition to a Manhattan apartment, a house in fictional Highfield, Conn. As the prologue warns, it's not just any house; it belonged to (fictional) 1930s writer Rachel Danbury, whose novel
The Winding Road blew the lid off the town with its saga of infidelities. "Does history repeat itself?" Of course! Green tracks, in great detail, Joe's further infidelities, Alice's dissatisfactions, their fights and reconciliations; she also dips into the POVs of Josie Mitchell (Joe's lover) and Emily, Alice's best friend. Alice is mostly sympathetic, but for someone who thinks of herself as "a post-feminist child of a feminist," she sure bends over backward to please the snake she married. The one plot twist, involving Emily and her beau, Harry, is sweet but predictable. Green's style relies heavily on exposition, and while her prose is clean, her story is padded—kind of like one of those sexy bras that rat Joe likes.
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Alice Chambers is trapped in a life she doesn't know she hates, with a wealthy but wandering husband, a slightly crazy best friend, and no real self to speak of. When husband Joe is transferred to New York because of an infidelity with a co-worker, Alice is less than thrilled about making the move. The change ultimately transforms her life and those in her circle. Elizabeth Sastre reads the novel as though your best girlfriend is telling the story. She is warm, com-passionate, funny, and decid-edly human in her delivery, making each character quirky and likable, regardless of whether she is reading parts for Alice, Joe, or his mistress. Green fans will love her performance, and those new to Green's work should find these characters endearing. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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