The Summer Without Men

FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WHAT I LOVED
''An astoundingly joyful read . . . a book that shines with intellectual curiosity and emotional integrity'' Guardian
''By turns funny, moving and erudite, playfully reminding us of a contemporary Jane Austen'' Daily Mail
After Mia Fredricksen''s husband of thirty years asks for a pause - so he can indulge his infatuation with a young French colleague - she cracks up (briefly), rages (deeply), then decamps to her prairie childhood home.
There, gradually, she is drawn into the lives of those around her: her mother''s circle of feisty widows; the young woman next door; and the diabolical teenage girls in her poetry class. By the end of the summer without men, Mia knows what''s worth fighting for - and on whose terms.
Provocative, mordant, and fiercely intelligent, this is a gloriously vivacious tragi-comedy about women and girls, love and marriage, and the age-old war between the sexes.
A rich and intelligent meditation on female identity, written in beguiling lyrical prose . . . heady and intoxicating'' Sunday Times