Monogamy

A “spectacular” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), “smart and powerfully alive” (Tessa Hadley) novel about marriage, love, family, happiness, and sorrow, from New York Times bestselling author Sue Miller.

“Monogamy is an old-fashioned, slow burn of a novel that allows readers to dream deeply . . . full of depth and contrast and lush detail.”—Richard Russo, New York Times Book Review, front cover 

Graham and Annie have been married for nearly thirty years. Their seemingly effort- less devotion has long been the envy of their circle of friends and acquaintances. By all appearances, they are a golden couple.

Graham is a bookseller, a big, gregarious man with large appetites—curious, eager to please, a lover of life, and the convivial host of frequent, lively parties at his and Annie’s comfortable house in Cambridge. Annie, more reserved and introspective, is a photographer. She is about to have her first gallery show after a six-year lull and is worried that the best years of her career may be behind her. They have two adult children: Lucas, Graham’s son with his first wife, Frieda, works in New York. Annie and Graham’s daughter, Sarah, lives in San Francisco. Though Frieda is an integral part of this far-flung, loving family, Annie feels confident in the knowledge that she is Graham’s last and greatest love.

When Graham suddenly dies—this man whose enormous presence has seemed to dom- inate their lives together—Annie is lost. What is the point of going on, she wonders, without him?

Then, while she is still mourning Graham intensely, Annie discovers a ruinous secret, one that will spiral her into darkness and force her to question whether she ever truly knew the man who loved her.