Marrying The Mistress

Just as one has forgotten the intense pleasure of reading Trollope, along comes another flawless novel." -Library Journal (starred review) A pleasure to read." -The Washington Post Despite its title, Marrying the Mistress is no mere sexy romp detailing the lurid details of a juicy affair. Instead, Joanna Trollope offers a domestic drama that gives us an insider's view of what happens to a family when the respected head of the household-60-year-old judge Guy Stockdale-announces he is leaving his wife of 40 years to marry his much younger mistress, Merrion. From his teenage grandson who thinks it's cool that Gramps can still snag a hot young babe to his feisty daughter-in-law who sets up a secret meeting to check out the Other Woman, this is a nuanced tale that manages to be both familiar and surprising. What makes the situation complex-and the book beach-bag worthy-is that Merrion is far from the stereotypical villain/slut/husband stealer. She is intelligent, independent, successful and impossible not to like. ReadingMarrying the Mistress is like spying on the neighbors that everyone on the street is gossiping about-without the guilt." -Salon.com A modern-day Austen." -Library Journal (starred review) Masterful storyelling and memorable charactersa wise and gently truthful take on a highly charged subject." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) This novel should easily vault onto the bestseller lists." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) [Marrying the Mistress] must be the popular British writer's most daring novel, as well as one of her most interestingbracing and originalTrollope at her most challenging and thought-provoking." -The Cleveland Plain Dealer Entertaininggreat beach reading." -USA Today A novel rich in accurate, piercing detail of domestic life and populated with strongly developed, realistic charactersabsorbing and excellent." -Booklist Splendidly nuanced." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A great beach or vacation read." -The Baltimore Sun Trollope again displays her extraordinary gift for representing the intricacies of familial relationships and the vicissitudes of domestic lifeNone of the themes here-betrayal and anger, the lovers' age difference, the grasping mother, the daughter-in-law's resentment-are terribly unusual, but Trollope's proven ability to present them intelligently, as moral and emotional tangles faced by thinking, interesting people, satisfyingly combines the universally recognizable and the intellectually engaging." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) Essential." -Library Journal (starred review)