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The Husbands

A Novel

Author Holly Gramazio On Tour
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Best Seller
Hardcover
$29.00 US
Doubleday Publishing | Doubleday
On sale Apr 02, 2024 | 352 Pages | 978-0-385-55061-1
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA’S APRIL BOOK CLUB PICK • An exuberant debut, The Husbands delights in asking: how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options? (“A time-bending gem”—Gabrielle Zevin; “Kaleidoscopic and bright and very, very funny." –Claire Lombardo)

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR FROM THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE STAR TRIBUNE

“Delightfully addictive . . . a bottomless champagne flute of a novel.”
—The Washington Post

"Charming...there’s plenty of intelligence and candor in the author’s creative spin on the conundrum of commitment."
—Publishers Weekly

"Richly characterized, philosophical, and funny. I enjoyed all the husbands, even (especially?) the terrible ones. A time-bending gem about the way we live now."
—Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times bestselling author of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

"The Husbands is a wily and wonderful exploration of modern decision-making, kaleidoscopic and bright and very, very funny."
—Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had

"Brilliant, hilarious, surprising and wise. I devoured it."
—Naomi Alderman, New York Times bestselling author of The Power and The Future

"The Husbands is WONDERFUL: fresh, original, hugely entertaining and oddly comforting. . . . I laughed out loud countless times. . . . [This] was the most fun I’ve had reading in the longest time. It is an utter delight."
—Marian Keyes, bestselling author of Again, Rachel and Grown Ups

"Clever, fresh, inventive, The Husbands is wholly original."
—Louise O’Neill, author of Asking For It

"The plot allows the author to explore current attitudes and approaches to dating and mating from a fresh perspective... A fun take on a big question."
—Kirkus
© Diana Patient
HOLLY GRAMAZIO is a writer, game designer and curator from Adelaide, currently based in London. She founded the experimental games festival Now Play This, and wrote the script for the award-winning indie video game Dicey Dungeons. Her recent projects include New Rules, a zine collecting essays about play during the pandemic, and a collaboration with artist Lawrence Lek on a game for his exhibition NOX. She's particularly interested in rules, play, cities, gardens, games that get people acting creatively, stories that buy into a ridiculous premise and then really commit to it, and art that gets people interacting with their surroundings in new ways. The Husbands is her first novel. View titles by Holly Gramazio

About

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA’S APRIL BOOK CLUB PICK • An exuberant debut, The Husbands delights in asking: how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options? (“A time-bending gem”—Gabrielle Zevin; “Kaleidoscopic and bright and very, very funny." –Claire Lombardo)

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

Reviews

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR FROM THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE STAR TRIBUNE

“Delightfully addictive . . . a bottomless champagne flute of a novel.”
—The Washington Post

"Charming...there’s plenty of intelligence and candor in the author’s creative spin on the conundrum of commitment."
—Publishers Weekly

"Richly characterized, philosophical, and funny. I enjoyed all the husbands, even (especially?) the terrible ones. A time-bending gem about the way we live now."
—Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times bestselling author of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

"The Husbands is a wily and wonderful exploration of modern decision-making, kaleidoscopic and bright and very, very funny."
—Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had

"Brilliant, hilarious, surprising and wise. I devoured it."
—Naomi Alderman, New York Times bestselling author of The Power and The Future

"The Husbands is WONDERFUL: fresh, original, hugely entertaining and oddly comforting. . . . I laughed out loud countless times. . . . [This] was the most fun I’ve had reading in the longest time. It is an utter delight."
—Marian Keyes, bestselling author of Again, Rachel and Grown Ups

"Clever, fresh, inventive, The Husbands is wholly original."
—Louise O’Neill, author of Asking For It

"The plot allows the author to explore current attitudes and approaches to dating and mating from a fresh perspective... A fun take on a big question."
—Kirkus

Author

© Diana Patient
HOLLY GRAMAZIO is a writer, game designer and curator from Adelaide, currently based in London. She founded the experimental games festival Now Play This, and wrote the script for the award-winning indie video game Dicey Dungeons. Her recent projects include New Rules, a zine collecting essays about play during the pandemic, and a collaboration with artist Lawrence Lek on a game for his exhibition NOX. She's particularly interested in rules, play, cities, gardens, games that get people acting creatively, stories that buy into a ridiculous premise and then really commit to it, and art that gets people interacting with their surroundings in new ways. The Husbands is her first novel. View titles by Holly Gramazio

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