Separate Beds
A Novel
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3.4 • 18 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A story of economic breakdown and romantic recovery from the author of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman.
Tom and Annie's kids have grown up, the mortgage is do-able, and they're about to get a gorgeous new, state-of-the-art French stove. Life is good- or so it seems. Beneath the veneer of professional success and domestic security, their marriage is crumbling, eaten away by years of resentment, loneliness, and the fall out from the estrangement of their daughter, and they've settled into simply being two strangers living under the same roof.
Until the economy falls apart.
Suddenly the dull but oddly comfortable predictability of their lives is upended by financial calamity-Tom loses his job, their son returns home, and Tom's mother moves in with them. As their world shrinks, Tom and Annie are forced closer together, and the chaos around them threatens to sweep away their bitterness and frustration, refreshing and possibly restoring the love that had been lying beneath all along.
In Separate Beds, Elizabeth Buchan has captured the concerns and joys of contemporary women, and her timely, warm, and funny novel tracks the ebb and flow of family, fortune, and love that is familiar to so many readers.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The prolific Buchan (Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman) paints an achingly touching portrait of a marriage and family in crisis, hobbled by economic recession and long-buried emotions. For middle-class Londoners Annie and Tom Nicholson she's a hospital administrator, he's a BBC exec the abrupt departure of their eldest daughter, Mia ("I won't be forgiving you and Dad anytime soon," she writes), exposes more than the fissures between parents who've drifted apart. It puts unbearable strain on Mia's twin, Jake, a single parent with a foundering business, and sister Emily, a struggling writer. This good-natured, misguided family stumbles haplessly toward a breaking point when Tom loses his job, and Jake, baby Maisie, and Tom's mum, Hermione, all move in. Suddenly, what had seemed a well-tended life becomes threadbare and crowded with shared disappointment, fear, and need. Here's a textured, layered story of love that builds on trust, founders on lies, and then finally discovers something to believe in. Buchan masterfully captures the Nicholsons' personal story with her richly drawn characters and makes it reflect all of our own frazzled and salvageable lives.
Customer Reviews
Separate Beds
This novel was readable, and really delve into the minds and homes of what the recession has effected not only in England but especially for those who live in the United States. The characters were likable and credible. However, the only aspect this novel lacked was a developed drama. All the elements were there for a darn good novel but it would've been better if the author wrote by person rather than a chapter novel. Further, as I was reading it, I felt it lacked something and even though each situation was addressed, and had a complete ending, it needed depth to really make it a novel that reflects the aspects of a family under fire as well as a personal crisis with each character presented by Ms. Buchan. Overall, good idea, but a fair if not poor delivery.