Marriage: A Duet - Softcover

Fleming, Anne Taylor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786887613 ISBN 13: 9780786887613

Publisher: Hyperion, 2004

Synopsis

Now available in paperback: "Eloquent and earthy . . . this duet is worth contemplating." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

In the first novella, A Married Woman, Caroline Betts keeps a careful vigil over her husband's deathbed. For 40 years, she had been a devoted wife. But during one awful moment in their otherwise good marriage, her husband William was in love with someone else. At the end of William's life, Caroline confronts her sorrow, anger, and odd flashes of relief and feelings of rebirth.

In the second novella, A Married Man, David -- husband, father, businessman -- finds his sense of well-being and achievement undermined by the betrayal of his wife, who's had a brief affair. The novella takes readers inside the couple's heartbreaking efforts to reclaim their marriage. Elegantly written, profoundly affecting, and subtly illuminating, Fleming's fiction debut is a revelation.

About this title

About the Author

Anne Taylor Fleming is a nationally recognized journalist and a CNN NewsNight with Aaron Brown contributor. She is a regular on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and the author of Motherhood Deferred: A Woman's Journey. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, the New Yorker, Vogue, O The Oprah Magazine, and Redbook. She has been a radio commentator for CBS and a TV commentator for NBC. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, journalist Karl Fleming.

From Library Journal

This first work of fiction by Fleming, a journalist and contributor to CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown, comprises two novellas that examine the ideas of marriage and infidelity and how spouses can genuinely love each other yet decide to test the boundaries. In the first, "A Married Woman," we meet middle-aged Caroline, a mother of two grown children who is watching her husband, William, slowly die. The narrative is divided between the present and Caroline's recollections of William's having an affair with a friend of their college-aged daughter Katie. Though Caroline loves her husband a great deal and his impending death rattles the whole family, his indiscretion has tainted the household. In the second novella, "A Married Man," Fleming turns the tables. We meet a younger family, the Sandersons-David, a successful investment advisor; his beautiful wife, Marcia; and their two young sons, Trevor and Kyle. Marcia has decided to have a brief fling with a dinner guest and though regretful does not hide her indiscretion. The couple seeks help from a counselor, but David can't seem to cope with having had his idyllic marriage spoiled. Both stories are set in Los Angeles and provide a snapshot of marriages that on the surface appear wonderful. Well-drawn characters and tight narratives allow the reader to observe life beneath the facade and decide what constitutes forgiveness, family, and fidelity. Recommended for public libraries.
Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hyperion
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0786887613
• ISBN 13: 9780786887613
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192