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Family Happiness by Laurie Colwin

Literary fiction

Family Happiness

by Laurie Colwin

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Quick take

From the late Laurie Colwin, a classic that raises the question: must a woman sacrifice her happiness for her family’s?

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, NYC

    NYC

  • Illustrated icon, Glamorous

    Glamorous

  • Illustrated icon, Infidelity

    Infidelity

Synopsis

A heartfelt novel about a midlife crisis and a woman tired of being taken for granted—and a reminder that family, like happiness, can take many forms.

To the rest of the world, Polly Solo-Miller Demarest lives a charmed life. She has a beautiful home, a dashing lawyer husband, and two delightful children. But beneath this idyllic surface, the pressure of being the “perfect flower” of an illustrious family—and a stable, always-available wife, mother, and daughter—are getting to her. The spark has gone out of her marriage, and to her own surprise, she’s having an affair. What follows is at once cathartic and provoking, and both may be necessary states in order for Polly to become the kind of person she wants to be.

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Get an early look from the first pages of Family Happiness.

Family Happiness

PART ONE

ONE

Polly Solo-Miller Demarest was the perfect flower of the Solo-Miller family. This family had everything: looks, brains, money, a strong, fortified sense of clan, and branches in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York, as well as London, just like a banking house. The patriarch of the New York gang was Henry Solo-Miller, husband of the former Constanzia Hendricks, nicknamed Wendy. Both were of old, old Jewish families, the sort that are more identifiably old American than Jewish. Solo-Millers and Hendrickses had come from Holland via Spain before the American Revolution, which they had either taken part in or helped to raise money for. Henry and Wendy had three children: Paul, Dora (called Polly by everyone), and Henry, Jr.

Polly was sandwiched between difficult brothers. Paul, a lawyer like his father, had always been mute, preoccupied, and cranky. He was said to be brilliant, but he was so silent that no one had ever really heard him say a brilliant thing. He was forty-three, unmarried, as greatly respected in the legal community as his distinguished father, and a passionate music lover. Henry, Jr., on the other hand, was a lout. He had refused to pursue the normal Solo-Miller and Hendricks occupations—law and banking—and had instead pursued his boyhood adoration of all things aerodynamic and become an aeronautical engineer. He had married Andreya Fillo, a fellow engineer, the daughter of Czech refugees. She and Henry, Jr., behaved more like brother and sister than like a married couple. They wore each other’s clothes, did not plan to have children, played with their dog, and dedicated themselves to kite-flying. Henry, Jr.’s large, smelly tickhound, Kirby, was their child substitute and, like his master, he had resisted proper training.

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Why I love it

This edition includes an exclusive foreword for Book of the Month members by Elin Hilderbrand.

One of the best parts of being on Book of the Month’s Editorial Team is sharing with you, our members, a book or author you might not have encountered before. While we usually give this to you in the form of the best new releases, every once in a while, something different sneaks up on us. That’s why we’re thrilled to share with you Family Happiness by the late Laurie Colwin, an under-the-radar talent we’re shining a brand new spotlight on.

Using a powerful and unique voice to highlight the minutiae of domestic life, Colwin wrote a variety of fiction and nonfiction until her unexpected death in 1992. Her work is character-driven but never boring—each page is steeped in drama, humor, and sheer life. While Colwin wrote in and about a time decades ago, her singular ability to capture the human experience makes her work timeless. Book of the Month believes that Laurie Colwin still has a story to tell a new generation of readers, and so we wanted to give our members a chance to step into her quirky, relatable world.

Book of the Month has selected three books that capture the essence of Colwin’s talent. We begin this series with Family Happiness, a story of a woman in a midlife crisis and the messy—but beautiful—relationships that form it. An ode to the many forms that family and happiness can take, Family Happiness is sure to strike a chord in any reader.

And keep an eye out in subsequent months for more from the great Laurie Colwin.

Other books by Laurie Colwin

Member ratings (184)

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Literary fiction
View all
Intermezzo
The Book of George
Real Americans
Dirty Diana
Wellness
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
The God of the Woods
Same As It Ever Was
Annie Bot
Bear
Mercury
True Biz
Family Happiness
The Lady Waiting
The Other Valley
Hard by a Great Forest
Good Material
The Bullet Swallower
Happy All the Time
Rental House
Alice Sadie Celine
Let Us Descend
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Shark Heart
Homeseeking
Transcendent Kingdom
Hello Beautiful
Dominicana
What's Mine and Yours
The Unsettled
Ask Again, Yes
Vladimir
Infinite Country
The Prophets
Normal People
The Verifiers
Salvage the Bones
The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
I Have Some Questions for You
Black Buck
The History of Love
Age of Vice
Paper Names
The Light Pirate
The Secret History
The Kite Runner
Memorial
The Half Moon
Happiness Falls
The Gifted School
The Death of Vivek Oji
The Knockout Queen
Little Monsters
Yerba Buena
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Free Food for Millionaires
A Burning
The Mothers
The Water Dancer
Small Country
The Sympathizer
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Lot
An American Marriage
The Animators
The Mars Room
Exit West
White Fur
Woman No. 17
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Eat Only When You're Hungry
Rainbirds
A Ladder to the Sky
Golden Child
The Goldfinch
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P
& Sons
The Association of Small Bombs
Lolly Willowes
All Grown Up
Marlena
Signal Fires
Someday, Maybe
Woman of Light
Marrying the Ketchups
The Shards
Blue Sisters