Husband and Wife: A Novel

by Leah Stewart

Overview

“Leah Stewart’s brilliantly written novel Husband and Wife is a deeply human book: funny, tender, smart, self-aware. When you read it you will laugh, you will cry, you will recognize others, you will recognize yourself.” — Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Castaways and Barefoot

From the highly acclaimed author of The Myth of You and Me comes a new novel about a young mother who finds her identity rocked to the core when her writer-husband reveals his next novel about infidelity isn’t entirely fiction. Fans of Meg Wolitzer, Ayelet Waldman, and Marisa de los Santos, as well as memoirs like Happens Every Day and Perfection, will love Leah Stewart’s Husband and Wife.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061992476
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/04/2010
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	518,912
File size:	662 KB

About the Author

Leah Stewart is the author of the novels The Myth of You and Me and Body of a Girl. A recipient of an NEA Literature Fellowship, she lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband and their two young children. She teaches creative writing at the University of Cincinnati.

Editorial Reviews

Some confessions are better left unuttered, as Sarah Price learns in Stewart's (The Myth of You and Me) solid latest. When novelist Nathan Bennett confesses to his wife, Sarah, right before a friend's wedding that he slept with another woman (his novel is titled Infidelity), Sarah's concerns shift from whether the dress she plans to wear to the wedding makes her look fat to what she will do about her future and that of their two young children, Mattie and Binx. What follows is an unflinching look at what happens when one's identity is shattered, and “what-ifs” and past choices come back to haunt the present. Chief among these what-ifs: Rajiv, an old friend nursing a long-unrequited crush on Sarah, and Sarah's longing to be seen once again as a poet. Stewart's graceful prose and easy storytelling pull the reader into caring about what happens to the struggling heroine while exploring the many gray areas of life and marriage. The conclusion, while true to Sarah, is surprising but not unrealistic. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Stewart’s book does what real life doesn’t always allow: It gives the woman a voice.” — Raleigh News & Observer

“Stewart creates a crisis of faith where adult reality collides with youthful dreams. The writing is tactile, elemental, even comical, providing readers with a situation that could so easily be their own.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Heartbreaking and darkly humorous. . . . [Stewart] is an acute social observer.” — BookPage.com

“Leah Stewart’s brilliantly written novel Husband and Wife is a deeply human book: funny, tender, smart, self-aware. When you read it you will laugh, you will cry, you will recognize others, you will recognize yourself.” — Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Castaways and Barefoot

“Hilarious, heartbreaking, and wise, Husband and Wife is a novel to savor. Stewart’s bright heroine is faced with an impossible choice—and I couldn’t put the book down until I’d followed her story to the end.” — Amanda Eyre Ward, author of Love Stories in This Town

“This narrative voice is so alive and specific that it moves past the idea of ‘narrative voice’ to become a human woman speaking to you. . . . I cherish this wry, funny, aching, intelligent character and this book!” — Marisa de los Santos, author of Belong to Me and Love Walked In

From the Publisher

Heartbreaking and darkly humorous. . . . [Stewart] is an acute social observer.

BookPage.com

This narrative voice is so alive and specific that it moves past the idea of ‘narrative voice’ to become a human woman speaking to you. . . . I cherish this wry, funny, aching, intelligent character and this book!

Marisa de los Santos

Leah Stewart’s brilliantly written novel Husband and Wife is a deeply human book: funny, tender, smart, self-aware. When you read it you will laugh, you will cry, you will recognize others, you will recognize yourself.

Elin Hilderbrand

Stewart’s book does what real life doesn’t always allow: It gives the woman a voice.

Raleigh News & Observer

Hilarious, heartbreaking, and wise, Husband and Wife is a novel to savor. Stewart’s bright heroine is faced with an impossible choice—and I couldn’t put the book down until I’d followed her story to the end.

Amanda Eyre Ward