Happiness Sold Separately - Couverture souple

Elinor Mackey has lived her life in perfect order: college, law school, successful corporate career, marriage. But suddenly her world is falling apart. Now in her late 30s, she's discovered that she and her podiatrist husband, Ted, can't have children. When Elinor withdraws from Ted into an interior world of heartbreak and anger, Ted begins an affair with Gina, the nutritionist at their gym - a young woman with an oddball son who adores Ted. Meanwhile, Elinor falls in love with the oak tree in her front yard, spreading out her sleeping bag to sleep under the stars.

Lolly Winston's second novel looks beyond the manicured surface of suburbia to a world of loss, longing, lust and betrayal.

'Sensitive and lyrical, with moments of hilarity and pathos' Chicago Sun Times

'A tender, wry, beautifully crafted story' Boston Globe

'A bittersweet, funny novel about the end of one love and the beginning of a new life' Glamour

'Elinor's wit, as well as Winston's keen eye for humor in moments of despair, elevate this touching, comic tale above the crowded pack' People Magazine

Elinor Mackey has lived her life in perfect order: college, law school, successful corporate career, marriage. But suddenly her world is falling apart. Now in her late 30s, it's seems likely that she and her husband, Ted, will never have children. As Elinor withdraws from Ted into an interior world of heartbreak and anger, Ted begins an affair with Gina, the nutritionist at their gym - a young woman with an inquisitive, angry, insatiable ten-year-old son, Toby, who adores Ted.

Gina has her own complicated life but Ted finds comfort in her perkiness and enthusiasm for life, as Elinor turns to The Iliad and her garden, watching the stars at night and finding comfort in the laundry room, nursing her pain. But it is here that she learns the truth, and as they seek to mend their fractured marriage, Elinor tries to bury her anger and hurt and Ted tries not to think about Gina. And then Elinor finds herself pregnant and suddenly they are faced with choices they never thought they'd have to make...

Happiness Sold Separately looks beyond the manicured surface of suburbia to a world of loss, longing, desire and betrayal.