Meet the Newmans
The New Powerful And Affirming Adult Novel From The Multi Million Copy Selling Author Of All the Bright Places
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 15 Jan 2026
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- 9,99 €
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- Pre-Order
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- 9,99 €
Publisher Description
'I loved Meet the Newmans! The characters jump off the page. I appreciated the subtle feminist twist and the humor. Jennifer is always good but this is one of her best' – JUDY BLUME
You've seen the show. Now meet the woman behind the scenes . . .
From No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Jennifer Niven, a novel about America’s favorite TV family, whose perfect façade starts to crack, for fans of Lessons in Chemistry and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Los Angeles, 1964.
For two decades, Del and Dinah Newman and their sons, Guy and Shep, have ruled television as America’s Favourite Family. Millions of viewers tune in every week to watch them play flawless, black-and-white versions of themselves. But now the Sixties are in full swing, and the Newmans’ perfection suddenly feels woefully out of touch.
Ratings are in free fall, as are the Newmans themselves. Del is keeping an explosive secret from his wife, and Dinah is slowly going numb. Steady, stable Guy is hiding the truth about his love life, and rock ‘n' roll idol Shep may finally be in real trouble.
When Del is in a mysterious car accident, Dinah decides to take matters into her own hands. She hires Juliet Dunne, an outspoken young reporter, to help her write the final episode. But Dinah and Juliet have wildly different perspectives about what it means to be a woman, and a family, in 1964 America.
Can Dinah Newman bring her family together to change television history?
Or will she be cancelled before she ever had the chance?
Maybe it’s time for perfection to fall out of style . . .
'This story of a famous fiction TV family in 1960's America and their subsequent unravelling is as thoughtful as it is entertaining. The writing thrums with energy, and the characters feel wholly believable. Definitely a recommend from me' – JENNIE GODFREY, bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A slice of mid-20th-century American life turns Technicolor in the uneven latest from Niven (after the YA novel When We Were Monsters). By 1964, the Newman family have been playing themselves for 20 years, first with a radio show and then with a half-hour sitcom called Meet the Newmans. The program offers conservative life lessons from writer, producer, and patriarch Del Newman, who stars alongside his wife, Dinah, and their two sons, Guy and Shep. The show was once hugely popular, but with the frenzy over Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique and other signs of cultural change, the ratings have slipped and the studio is threatening cancellation. When Dinah learns Del has been in a car accident and is recovering in the hospital, she seizes the chance to write the next episode. With help from a young female journalist, she weaves a kitchen sink's worth of feminist issues into the script, from abortion bans to restrictions against women serving on a jury or opening a credit account. Niven effectively develops the characters, especially Dinah, who at first appears to be a restless housewife lusting after a neighbor before she starts to break out of her prescribed gender role. But as the plot plods to its inevitable happy ending, the story grows tedious. It's a mixed bag.
