2022 IAN Book of the Year Winner in Women's Fiction
2022 NYC Big Book Awards Winner in Contemporary Novel
2022 NYC Big Book Awards Distinguished Favorite in Audiobook Fiction
2022 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Silver Medal Winner in Fiction (Realistic)
2022 Firebird Book Awards First Place Winner in Summer/Beach Read and Marriage
2022 Firebird Book Awards Second Place Winner in Contemporary Fiction, Women's Issues, and Humor
2022 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Marriage
2022 International Book Awards Finalist in Humor/Comedy/Satire
2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Women’s Issues (Non-Fiction)
2022 Book Excellence Awards Finalist in Fiction
2022 Independent Press Awards Winner in Contemporary Novel
2021 American Fiction Awards Finalist in Literary Fiction
2021 Foreword Indie Silver Winner in Humor
2021 Hollywood Book Festival Honorary Mention in General Fiction
“Em’s Awful Good Fortune takes its reader across the world and deep into the heart of its trapped, privileged, suffering, and, ultimately, invincible narrator. Equally funny and brutal, this novel breathes vivid life into a much maligned and little understood “type”—the expat wife. Maxfield poured her heart into the writing, and it shows: the pages crackle.”
—Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Drown and This Is How You Lose Her
“Maxfield calls Em’s problems those of 'tagalong wife privilege,’ but the novel isn’t just about that; there’s something here that’s more universal, which women in different circumstances are sure to find familiar: the notion of abandoning the care of one’s own health and happiness in the name of love of family and marriage.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Em's Awful Good Fortune is a travelogue through the heart and mind of a woman torn between her marriage to her globetrotting husband and loyalty to herself. With unsentimental humor and deep humanity, Marcie Maxfield writes with brutal grace about the journey to find the self you didn't know you'd lost. Oh, and this isn't chick lit. This is lit.”
—Alan Watt, LA Times best-selling author of Diamond Dogs and The 90-Day Novel
“A fast-paced, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it whirlwind of a book capturing the good, the bad, and the ugly of being a ‘tagalong’ expat wife. Marcie Maxfield will take you on a global ride—and personal journey—in this funny, poignant novel.”
—Stephanie Suga Chen, author of The Straits Times bestseller Travails of a Trailing Spouse and Disunited Nations: International School Mums at War
“Em’s Awful Good Fortune is ferocious and hilarious, with a writing voice so unique it will knock your socks off. This breathless story of a woman’s attempt at balancing love with self-love as she navigates the few joys and many pitfalls of the tagalong life will keep you reading until the wee hours, and might even change the way you view marriage, travel, and feminism.”
—Corine Gantz, author of Hidden in Paris and the trilogy The Curator of Broken Things.
“Em’s Awful Good Fortune brilliantly skewers the rarified life of the overly precious ‘tagalong’ expat life. The novel reads like your best friend’s blisteringly funny diary, especially if your best friend happens to be a stand-up comic with a knife’s-edge wit who can make mincemeat out of any philandering husband. . . . Find a chair, open the first page of this sizzling story, and fly around the world on that trip you’ve been itching to take all year.”
—Susan Conley, author of Landslide and The Foremost Good Fortune
“With wit, wisdom and remarkable candor, Marcie Maxfield shines a light on a secret side of the jet-set world. As a fellow expat, she had me nodding and laughing—and sometimes groaning—in recognition of her experiences. Marcie describes so accurately the free-falling feeling of arriving in a new country. Any woman who has ever sacrificed something of herself for her family will empathize with the good fortune that comes with a hidden cost.”
—Jo Furniss, author of The Trailing Spouse, The Last To Know, and Amazon Charts bestseller All the Little Children
“Maxfield’s Em is the feminist response to Dangerfield’s ‘I don’t get no respect.’ A character you want to meet in a lost bar in a lost town and spend the evening laughing with. Ironic, poignant, and downright funny, this is a great novel to take on the road . . .”
—Andrew Fierberg, producer of Secretary and My Art
“Em's Awful Good Fortune is an intense look at what it means to stay in a rocky marriage and persevere. By turns funny and heartbreaking, it addresses the ups and downs of being alternatively assertive and submissive and challenges readers to assess how much sacrifice makes sense in a particular relationship. The book is a forthright examination of love and a deeply felt examination of love's limitations.”
—Eleanor J. Bader, award-winning freelance journalist
“With one foot in the past and one in the present, Marcie Maxfield compiled a stunner of a novel.”
—Mel Rosenthal, The Book Slut
“This is not just a woman’s book; it's a universal lesson, the ‘medicine’ of which doesn't come with a spoonful of sugar. The writing is hardheaded, honest, and direct. Em is a flawed and therefore endearingly human character. Maxfield is like a great comic actor, improvising, free-associating, seducing us to ride along on the riff that is Em’s Awful Good Fortune.”
—Rick Lenz, award-winning author of North of Hollywood and The Alexandrite
“Em is a complex individual, with layers to her personality that make her utterly riveting to read. The non-linear narrative style enriches the story and keeps you hooked throughout the pages. Recommended to readers who enjoy comedy-dramas.”
—Readers’ Favorite, 5-star review
“Maxfield is . . . a playwright known for infusing humor and wit into feminist issues that are not always very funny. In her novel, she accomplishes the same as she addresses with honesty and empathy the dark side of becoming a tagalong spouse.”
—Asian Review of Books
“Em’s Awful Good Fortune is a hoot. This is a story that stays with the reader long after reading the last page. I recommend it to anyone in a marriage or contemplating entering one.”
—Story Circle Book Reviews
“With a brilliant cast of colorful characters and specific details of each country lived in, this book is sure to draw in readers who are looking to experience a true traveling adventure with real-life celebrations and letdowns.”
—Seattle Book Review
2021-05-05
A novel about a tough-minded expatriate who feels overshadowed by her spouse’s career.
Maxfield’s debut novel opens as Em and her husband, Gee, are considering relocating to China for Gee’s job. In the past, his career has taken them to South Korea, Japan, and France, with stints at their American home port of Los Angeles. Life on the road might seem exotic and exciting to many, but it’s a challenge for Em. She’s put her own marketing career on hold and is never anywhere long enough to make deep or lasting friendships. Gee’s time is monopolized by work whether they’re overseas or not, and their kids resent living lives of constant change. On a tour of Shanghai with Gee, Em asks about the city’s deterioration: “Accelerated decay,” Gee says. “The result of harsh environmental factors, coal burning, and sneaker factories”—and their marriage, Em’s career, and her happiness are similarly wasting away. Up to this point in her life, Em has played things safe despite a few brave moments, as when she tells herself she has her “own dragons to slay”—but for most of the novel, though, her moves against her demons are weak, and readers must wait patiently for the moment when she decides she’s finally up for the fight. The shift comes slowly in a disjointed narrative that jumps back and forth in time and around the globe, but Em does eventually realize that change is up to nobody but her. Maxfield calls Em’s problems those of “tagalong wife privilege,” but the novel isn’t just about that; there’s something here that’s more universal, which women in different circumstances are sure to find familiar: the notion of abandoning the care of one’s own health and happiness in the name of love of family and marriage. The book is littered with backstory, and not all of it feels necessary. However, Maxfield does manage to capture the complex push and pull of playing a supporting role in one’s own life.
An emotionally honest story about a struggle for balance.
