A Much Married Man: A Novel

by Nicholas Coleridge

Overview

From one of the sharpest observers of the modern scene comes this witty, intelligent, and irresistible novel in the tradition of Gosford Park and Snobs.

Anthony Anscombe has everything he could ever want: an exquisite family estate, enviable social standing, and a desirable inheritance. But Anthony still has an aching desire for one thing: the perfect match. Running headlong into marriage is Anthony's forte . . . and his greatest weakness. As he surveys his beautiful house in the English countryside, Anthony has the distinct feeling that he's under siege. He may be surrounded by his sprawling estate, but lurking in the village are more than one or two reminders of his complicated past, including three ex-wives, a mistress, and a legion of children and stepchildren, all dependent on him and all determined to do whatever it takes to get what they want.

A Much Married Man is a wickedly funny social satire with characters that will stay with readers long after the final page. Like a modern-day Edith Wharton or Anthony Trollope, Nicholas Coleridge delivers a sensational glimpse inside the salacious world of the upper classes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312382261
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/27/2008
Series:	Thomas Dunne Bks.
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Nicholas Coleridge is managing director of Condé Nast in Britain, the magazine publishing house that includes Vogue, Tatler, House & Garden and Vanity Fair. His bestselling novels, including The Adventuress and A Much Married Man, have been published in twelve languages.  He lives in England with his family.

Editorial Reviews

A keen observer of class, manners and sexual frisson, Coleridge is a master of the social romp.” —Graydon Carter, Editor-in-Chief, Vanity Fair

“[Coleridge] layers his prose with flawless detail, wit and affection for his ever-expanding cast of characters.” —USA Today

“Coleridge skillfully handles a small army of sharply drawn characters. . . . he has a real talent for humor, delivered in a deadpan fashion.” —Boston Globe

“Nicholas Coleridge makes a witty and acerbic guide to this arcane, and largely secret, world. Unlike many silver fork writers, Coleridge is a well-informed insider and, as such, his humor is only too painfully accurate.” —Julian Fellowes, author of Snobs; Academy Award-winning writer of Gosford Park

“A Much Married Man is funny, touching and flawless in its detail. Nicholas Coleridge is the best sociologist of British upper class life since Anthony Powell.” —Tina Brown

“I burned the midnight oil to read A Much Married Man…I loved the book, Nicholas has perfect pitch on class and a miraculous eye on changing society over the past forty years…the whole book is by turns gloriously bitchy, extremely funny and ultimately touching.” —Jilly Cooper, author of Class and Player

“This is a big, pacy, ambitious and thoroughly entertaining book. Coleridge is brilliant on the detail… he inspires the most gloriously waspish turns of phrase.” —Daily Mail (London)

“Coleridge's wickedly funny novel is guaranteed to amuse. ... a must for the beach this summer.” —Glamour UK

“This extravagantly enjoyable novel wins credit on so many levels I hardly know where to begin… A Much Married Man is irresistible.” —Sunday Telegraph

“Anyone battled by the conundrum of what to read this summer need look no further than A Much Married Man.” —The Spectator

“[A] long and luscious novel… touching and funny.” —The Observer

From the Publisher

Nicholas Coleridge makes a witty and acerbic guide to this arcane, and largely secret, world. Unlike many silver fork writers, Coleridge is a well-informed insider and, as such, his humor is only too painfully accurate.

author of Snobs; Academy Award-winning writer of G Julian Fellowes

The latest from Coleridge (Streetsmart, 2001, etc.), Conde Nast U.K.'s editorial director, is a witty, nimbly plotted upper-crust soap opera, but one that favors glamour over substance. 1965: Eighteen-year-old Anthony, heir to a banking fortune, meets kohl-eyed and sultry teen adventuress Amanda at a party and is so smitten that he trails her to France, wrests her from a rival and marries her in Nice. Two years later, Amanda abandons Anthony and an infant daughter. He reluctantly divorces her and plights his troth to the child's salt-of-the-earth nanny. A decade and two children later, that marriage implodes when Anthony sires another daughter by his acupuncturist. Soon he weds Dita, a chilly social climber. Thanks to the bank's expansion into Asia, Anthony's fortune grows, despite Dita's squandering enormous sums on household opulence and the social whirl, and by 1995 Anthony is living comfortably at his family's ancestral seat in Oxfordshire, surrounded by the detritus of his messy romantic life: five children, five stepchildren, a wife, three former wives or consorts. There comes, inevitably, a disastrous reversal, but everything is put right at the end. Anthony is well-meaning and likable, but readers may lose patience with his easy self-forgiveness and near-total lack of introspection-nor does it help that the narrator sometimes plays advocate for him. A crowded, buzzing canvas, and the draftsmanship is superb. But it seems less a satiric novel than a flattering court portrait of an aristocrat who's bought and paid for it. First printing of 75,000. Agent: Ed Victor/Ed Victor Ltd.

Kirkus Reviews