Leaving Sophie Dean
-
- $12.99
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
Adam and Sophie Dean's good-enough marriage could easily have lasted forever. But Adam succumbs to pressure from his mistress to leave Sophie, and in the course of his carefully prepared farewell speech, Sophie has a revelation: unless she leaves him in the family home in the role of primary caregiver, he'll have a severely diminished role in the lives of their two sons.
So while Adam continues to live in the suburban house he despises-with his two children and his angry mistress, who'd never planned for this turn of events-Sophie sets out alone into an alluring new life nearby, close enough to see her sons every day, but far removed from her former life of domestic drudgery. As she and Adam grow into their new roles, they discover what it actually means to act in their children's best interests, and that the end of a marriage can be a beginning.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Whitaker's contrived debut, Adam Dean attempts to leave his dowdy wife, Sophie, and their two young sons for another woman the haughty Valerie Hughes but Sophie turns the table on him by moving out and leaving him with the kids. The novel's title does clever double duty, describing Sophie's discovery of her post-housewife self and Adam's unexpected difficulties in the aftermath of trying to leave her. Sophie moves into a small apartment where the kids come after school and every other weekend, and she enrolls in shiatsu classes to blaze a career path. Once a distant father, Adam is thrust into being the primary caretaker, though he eventually finds enjoyment in the daily rituals of child rearing. This is a blow to Valerie, who would rather live an extravagant lifestyle in Boston with her lover as opposed to dealing with screaming kids in the dull suburbs. Unfortunately, the book is full of self-serving characters even Valerie's best friend Agatha is a self-righteous backstabber. Whitaker almost redeems herself with the story's resolution, but a forced writing style and unlikable characters make this a disappointing debut.
