A kaleidoscopic story about the complexities of modern love and the possibilities of starting anew. Every Other Weekend is a fast-paced, vividly imagined, and utterly absorbing novel.”
—JASMIN DARZNIK, New York Times best-selling author of The Bohemians
“It’s hard to believe this is attorney-in-real-life Margaret Klaw’s first novel. Every Other Weekend is written with the arms-flung-wide confidence of someone who has been paying very close attention to the always messy, sometimes funny, and never boring world of divorce. This delicious dissection of a good-on-paper family torn asunder will keep you happily reading well past your bedtime.”
—CELIA RIVENBARK, New York Times best-selling author of Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank
“So many things about Every Other Weekend blew me away. As I was reading, the characters’ dilemmas followed me everywhere—into the shower, into my dreams, busting into my train of thought when I was supposed to be working. Few books have had that effect on me. Anna Karenina comes to mind, and the scope and depth of Klaw’s novel is indeed Tolstoy-esque. Every Other Weekend smacks of intensely observed reality, made spellbinding and poignant by a very talented author. The ending will have you begging for more.”
—CATHRYN JAKOBSON RAMIN, New York Times best-selling author of Carved in Sand
“Margaret Klaw’s debut novel, Every Other Weekend, achieves the very difficult, which is to offer a deliciously readable, rollicking tale that nevertheless explores the deeply tangled threads of domestic life. In her wry stew, made up of over-the-hill hipsters, gossiping yoginis, polyamorous millennials, aging dogs, and scared-of-the-dark kiddos, Klaw raises deep questions about love, loyalty, and justice in a world where there are no pure heroes and villains.”
—LISE FUNDERBURG, author of Pig Candy and Black, White, Other
“Margaret Klaw’s debut novel, Every Other Weekend, is a clever, page-turning master class in blurred lines, moral ambiguity, and the complicated aftermath of divorce. Written from the perspective of an experienced family law attorney, Every Other Weekend tells the same story through the lens of the attorneys, friends, parties, witnesses, and children involved with staggering results, begging the question: when relationships break apart, how can we ever get to the whole truth and nothing but?”
—AMY IMPELLIZZERI, author of In Her Defense and I Know How This Ends
“Incisive, smart, and page-turning, Every Other Weekend is much more than the story of a dissolving marriage. Klaw’s keen observations, spot-on turns of phrase, and astute social commentary pepper this tale of an entangled community, half-truths, and outright lies. Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty!”
—ANDREA J. STEIN, author of Typecast
“Jake Naudain, an aging wanna-be hipster in the tight-knit enclave of Greenwood, is at his wit's end: his wife wants a divorce, and the novel takes off on a face-paced, wildly entertaining romp that pokes fun at dog owners, yoga moms, and vegans, while digging deeper into the musings of a feminist lawyer who represents a self-absorbed, male privileged client. A refreshing read!”
—DEDE CUMMINGS, author of The Meeting Place
“A satiric, insightful, and thoroughly enjoyable look at the evolution and dissolution of an American family and the lies and truths we tell others and ourselves, from a powerful writer with a deep understanding of the chaos of modern life.”
—JON MCGORAN, author of Spliced and Drift
“Margaret Klaw’s keen observations about the law and human nature are eye-opening and jaw-dropping. A must-read!”
—LISA SCOTTOLINE, author of Eternal
2023-04-05
Klaw’s debut novel follows a community through one couple’s divorce.
Set in the idyllic Greenwood community of Philadelphia, this story follows Lisa and Jake Naudain and their children, Elizabeth and Charlotte, as they navigate a major change in their lives. Jake is bewildered when, after a dinner party, his wife, Lisa, proposes divorce. She’s felt the relationship has been flawed for some time, as Jake has lied about financial matters and his work in IT and as a rock band member doesn’t follow a goal-oriented career trajectory. When they divorce, Jake becomes involved with Samara, a 20-something woman who wants a polyamorous relationship. When young Charlie gets scared one night, she winds up in the same bed with her father and his newfound girlfriend, which leads to additional parental-custody proceedings. Klaw presents the story in a series of vignettes from the close third-person perspectives of Lisa, Jake, Charlie, Elizabeth, and the presiding judge as well as Jake’s attorney, Ellen Ackerman, (whose cases usually involved “that certain type of contemporary twenty-first-century uncoupling in which both parties were highly motivated to approach divorce collaboratively”) and Ellen’s daughter Marni, all of whom reside in Greenwood. The author, a family lawyer herself and author of Keeping It Civil(2013)—a nonfiction book about modern-day people navigating divorces—writes with authority about the legal system and how the end of marriage not only affects the members of a nuclear family, but also the people around them. Although this book is an engaging read and easy to follow, it’s more about the divorce case than it is about individual character development. It also solely follows wealthy characters, so it lacks insight into how people of other socioeconomic statuses in Greenwood might navigate similar circumstances. However, it effectively focuses a clear lens on the legal aspects of dissolving a marriage and negotiating child custody.
An informative, if slightly uneven, narrative about the dissolution of a marriage.
