Getting Rid of Matthew

For once, a novel that isn’t about the heroine getting the guy. It’s about getting rid of the guy, and in the process, finding herself.

Helen is nearly forty, and has, for far too long, had an affair with Matthew, a high-powered, much older, attractive, married man who was once, of course, her boss. After years of being disappointed by missed dates, out-of-the-way restaurants, broken promises, and hushed phone calls, at last Helen realizes it’s time to dump Matthew and get on with her life.

This, of course, is the exact moment when Matthew decides to leave his wife for her. He appears on her doorstep and proceeds to move in. Helen then discovers how much she can’t bear him. But she can’t just throw him out–after all, she’s been begging him to do exactly this for years. The only thing to do, she decides, is to convince his wife, Sophie, to take him back.

So after a “chance” meeting in the park, Helen befriends Sophie and hears all about her lying, cheating husband. But then, the unexpected happens–Helen really starts to like Sophie. And then there’s the other small problem of Matthew’s handsome, charming son…

Jane Fallon turns the conventional love story on its head in this irresistibly delicious, ironic debut.