Marrying the Mistress

Washington Post

A pleasure to read.

USA Today

Great beach reading.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

[Trollope's] most daring novel, as well as her most interesting...bracing and original...challenging and thought-provoking.

Richmond Times

...every bit as alluring and satisfying as its predecessors.

Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction

Trollope's latest describes what happens when the esteemed head of a family - a judge - announces he is leaving a forty-year marriage to marry his mistress. "Well-developed, vivid characters," "exquisitely written," and "Oprah-worthy." "Satisfying -- I would definitely recommend this."

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In her latest tale, about a May-December romance and its effects on the individuals and families involved, Trollope again displays her extraordinary gift for representing the intricacies of familial relationships and the vicissitudes of domestic life. British Judge Guy Stockdale, of the Stanborough Crown Court, is just over 60, and feels it is time to tell his wife, Laura, that for the last seven years of their 40-year marriage he has been deeply in love and having an affair with much younger Merrion Palmer. Merrion, a barrister, is only 31--younger than Guy's two sons, Simon (a 38-year-old father of three adolescent children) and Alan (a 35-year-old homosexual), and she forthrightly admits that Guy may be her father figure. Laura does not take the news well, despite the unhappiness that pervades her marriage. She obstinately refuses to talk or negotiate with Guy; characteristically, she clings to her favorite son, Simon, who's a lawyer, and forces him to represent her against his father. Laura's manipulation of Simon puts a tremendous strain on his marriage; his wife, Carrie, already resents Laura as a "self-absorbed, self-pitying woman" who uses her son as "a bloody substitute husband." Meanwhile, Simon and his family and Alan get to know and like Guy's mistress, an acceptance that Merrion ultimately finds intimidating, since she fears her identity will be subsumed in Guy's family. And Guy, dreading "the inevitable infliction of pain," struggles with guilty deliberations on Merrion's future with an aging husband. None of the themes here--betrayal and anger, the lovers' age difference, the grasping mother, the daughter-in-law's resentment--are terribly unusual, but Trollope's proven ability to present them intelligently, as moral and emotional tangles faced by thinking, interesting people, satisfyingly combines the universally recognizable and the intellectually engaging. This novel should easily vault onto the bestseller lists. 12-city author tour; Penguin audio. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

Despite the abridgment, this production allows Trollope's rich character development to draw listeners into her poignant story of domestic turmoil. Sixty-year-old Judge Guy Stockdale has decided to leave his wife of 40 years to marry Merrion, his 31-year-old mistress of seven years. Merrion, a lawyer younger than Guy's sons, is understandably wary about meeting Guy's family but is pleasantly surprised when they all get on very well. The situation worsens, however, when Guy's wife, Laura, bullies their son Simon, also a lawyer, into representing her interests in the divorce proceedings. Simon's family is thus pulled into this domestic melee, which climaxes with his wife, Carrie, telling Laura that she will not allow Simon to serve as Laura's "substitute husband." Well narrated by Lynn Redgrave, this is an excellent choice for all contemporary fiction collections.--Beth Farrell, Portage Cty. Dist. Lib., OH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Abby Frucht

With its sharp eye, light tone and sly, witty pace, Joanna Trollope's ninth novel delivers all the ingredients of romantic comedy, yet ends with a subtle, dark twist...These interwoven tales have unanticipated and highly satisfying conclusions, and this best-selling British author's American readers will be tickled along the way by Guy's observation, ''If we were Americans, we could tell each other we loved each other.''
—The New York Times Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

Another splendidly nuanced tale of contemporary family life from the always expert Trollope (Other People's Children, 1999, etc.). After a seven-year secret liaison with Merrion Palmer, a clever London lawyer, 62-year-old Guy Stockdale, a distinguished judge with an irreproachable reputation, has decided to leave his wife, Laura, and marry his much younger mistress. (As usual, Trollope puts a fresh spin on a hackneyed situation by making the husband rather than the wife the protagonist.) Guy's decision prompts all concerned to question old loyalties, the past, and the meaning of love itself. Laura, who has felt for years that she paid too high a price in marrying, refuses to sell the family home, where she's created a beautiful garden, and insists that her eldest and favorite son, Simon, a public-interest lawyer, act as her counsel. Simon, married to Carrie and father of Jack, Rachel, and Emma, is torn between his loyalty to his parents and the needs of his own family. Meanwhile, younger brother Alan, gay and presently unattached, worries that their mother is asking too much of the already overworked Simon. And the three grandchildren resent the strain Laura is imposing on their parents. As the legal proceedings get underway, Carrie, angry at Laura's obstinacy and dependency on Simon, invites Merrion to meet the family. The visit is a success, and the rest of the Stockdales are reconciled to Guy's choice. But Laura continues to be difficult, Simon remains torn, and Jack, hurting after his first high-school romance ends, seeks comfort from his grandfather. Merrion and Guy feel the demands of kin complicating what had seemed a simple and perfect love. Masterfulstorytellingand memorable characters combine to give us a wise and gently truthful take on a highly charged subject.