How to Sleep at Night
A Novel
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"Funny, charming...you can do no better than to curl up with this sparkling book."—The Washington Post
"By turns insightful, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, How To Sleep at Night is a delight."— J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times Bestselling author of Friends and Strangers
"This wonderful debut is about the rough and tumble road that true love represents for all of us." —James McBride, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
"This debut sparkles with wit and insight. I found myself laughing and gasping in equal measure. A true testament to the complexities of modern relationships—this book is a must-read for anyone who's ever wondered how to bridge the gap between who we are and who we aspire to be." —Dolly Alderton
A witty and whip-smart novel about love, marriage, and family ties stretched thin by ambition.
Meet Ethan and Gabe. In this gripping political drama, a devoted couple for years, they have successful careers, an adorable daughter, and a house in the New Jersey suburbs. Sure, they may have drifted to different ends of the political spectrum, but their marriage still has its spark. Then one night Ethan makes an announcement: he wants to run for Congress as a Republican—but only if he has progressive Gabe’s blessing. For weeks a slightly queasy Gabe struggles between supporting his husband and maintaining his own lefty ideals. He can feel himself slowly pulled under the tide of Ethan’s ambitions, even as he becomes widely known as a conservative spouse.
In a nearby town, suburban mom Nicole wonders what happened to her younger self—living in New York City, freely dating men and women, and on a path to a career in the art world. Nicole feels like an accessory in her husband’s life and like she’s given up on the goals she had for herself, a marriage in crisis that feels inescapable. Then an old flame re-enters her life unexpectedly. That woman is Ethan’s sister Kate.
A political reporter at a major newspaper, Kate has reached the top of her profession. But the adrenaline rush of chasing a story has lost its thrill. When Nicole—the woman who broke her heart—slides into her DMs just as her brother starts his controversial congressional run, Kate’s life is thrown into a tailspin in this complex family drama that threatens to derail the success she’s worked so hard to achieve.
"A sharply funny exploration of marriage and ambition, How to Sleep at Night has the feel of whispered secrets exchanged over cocktails with your smartest friend."–Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street
"This wonderful debut is about the rough and tumble road that true love represents for all of us." — James McBride, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
Three lives, two marriages, and one political campaign that could tear them all apart. How do you find your way back to yourself when the life you’ve built starts to crumble?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Harris's timely debut, a gay man's husband runs for Congress as a Republican, testing their marriage, and two women contend with the fallout from their long-ago love affair. Gabe Alter has been with Ethan Keller for 20 years. When they met, they were both Democrats, but over time, Ethan has drifted to the right. After Ethan floats his plan to enter the Republican primary, Gabe confides in Ethan's sister, Kate, a newspaper reporter, about his hesitation to support Ethan's long-held dream of entering politics. Gabe finds Ethan's small-government views abhorrent, and worries he'll no longer be seen as a staunch leftist if he backs Ethan, but that if he doesn't, they'll lose each other. A parallel narrative follows Kate's ex Nicole Harmon, a stay-at-home mom who dated Kate in her 20s. When Kate learns her newspaper is planning to run an article about Ethan's past DUI, she warns him, knowing there might be consequences to her career, while Nicole struggles with feeling invisible as a queer person, given her marriage to a man. As Kate and Nicole reconnect, Nicole hopes to rediscover that part of herself. The political material is a bit simplistic, but the characters are well-drawn, and the story moves at a brisk clip as it builds to Election Day. It adds up to a satisfying story of middle-aged reckonings.
