Your cheating heart.
March 21, 2011 3:23 PM Subscribe
Need suggestions for a book, preferably written from a woman's point of view, about having an affair.
It needs to be fairly modern (last 50 years or so) and literary (but not too difficult).
Would help also if it were British and there were kids complicating the break-up, after the affair is discovered.
Thanks!
It needs to be fairly modern (last 50 years or so) and literary (but not too difficult).
Would help also if it were British and there were kids complicating the break-up, after the affair is discovered.
Thanks!
A Cold Wind in August by Burton Wohl may fit your criteria. Naturally, a little steamy in places.
posted by HarrysDad at 3:37 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by HarrysDad at 3:37 PM on March 21, 2011
Best answer: The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shiver fits the bill, except there are no kids involved.
posted by yarly at 3:37 PM on March 21, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by yarly at 3:37 PM on March 21, 2011 [3 favorites]
Short pieces (fiction, non-fiction, poetry) on the topic in the book Homewrecker.
(Full disclosure: Daphne, the editor, is a friend of mine.)
posted by mollymayhem at 3:42 PM on March 21, 2011
(Full disclosure: Daphne, the editor, is a friend of mine.)
posted by mollymayhem at 3:42 PM on March 21, 2011
Best answer: Little Children by Tom Perrotta
posted by Clambone at 3:45 PM on March 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Clambone at 3:45 PM on March 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
Possession by A.S. Byatt
posted by Mchelly at 3:50 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Mchelly at 3:50 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Seconding The Post-Birthday World.
posted by Judith Butlerian Jihad at 3:54 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by Judith Butlerian Jihad at 3:54 PM on March 21, 2011
The Position, by Meg Wolitzer, is about the break up of an American family after the wife has an affair.
posted by Wantok at 3:56 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by Wantok at 3:56 PM on March 21, 2011
I just remembered Nikki Gemmell's The Bride Stripped Bare - no kids but it is both British & recent.
posted by Wantok at 4:05 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by Wantok at 4:05 PM on March 21, 2011
OK so it's not from a woman's perspective, it's from a kid's perspective and it's mostly about growing up (13ish) but a big factor of that is a parent's affair. It's also British and amazing, recent and literary: Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. (Then go read all his other books.)
posted by hepta at 4:52 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by hepta at 4:52 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Mermaid Chair fits your description, aside from the British part. Fair warning: the main character is very irritating.
posted by DeusExMegana at 4:58 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by DeusExMegana at 4:58 PM on March 21, 2011
Seconding Mitchell's _Black Swan Green_ for general amazingness.
posted by Rain Man at 5:00 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by Rain Man at 5:00 PM on March 21, 2011
I highly recommend you check out Evening by Susan Minot. She is an amazing writer.
posted by rks404 at 5:02 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by rks404 at 5:02 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
I just remembered Nikki Gemmell's The Bride Stripped Bare - no kids but it is both British & recent.
I came here to suggest this book as well (though Gemmell's Australian, not British).
posted by hot soup girl at 5:43 PM on March 21, 2011
I came here to suggest this book as well (though Gemmell's Australian, not British).
posted by hot soup girl at 5:43 PM on March 21, 2011
I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson.
Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigerian, with a British twist)
Lara Rider's Masterpiece and Disobedience by Jane Hamilton
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth (Lonoff has an affair with a much younger student. Not a woman's POV, though)
Disgrace by JM Coetzee (again, male perspective and South African with British influences)
posted by mrfuga0 at 5:45 PM on March 21, 2011
Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigerian, with a British twist)
Lara Rider's Masterpiece and Disobedience by Jane Hamilton
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth (Lonoff has an affair with a much younger student. Not a woman's POV, though)
Disgrace by JM Coetzee (again, male perspective and South African with British influences)
posted by mrfuga0 at 5:45 PM on March 21, 2011
I just watched the movie Brief Encounter and your question reminded me of it. Its source material is the play Still Life, which is a bit older than you asked (and a play rather than a book), but I thought it might still be of interest.
posted by srah at 6:29 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by srah at 6:29 PM on March 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure it's "literary" but I love Nick Hornby's How to be Good.
posted by kat518 at 6:45 PM on March 21, 2011
posted by kat518 at 6:45 PM on March 21, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks so much everyone.
I marked as best answers the two I ended up using as comparisons for the report I'm working on (it's a publishing thing), but all suggestions were greatly appreciated.
posted by melgy at 7:36 PM on March 21, 2011
I marked as best answers the two I ended up using as comparisons for the report I'm working on (it's a publishing thing), but all suggestions were greatly appreciated.
posted by melgy at 7:36 PM on March 21, 2011
Gustav Flaubert's Madame Bovary?
posted by easilyconfused at 4:54 PM on March 27, 2011
posted by easilyconfused at 4:54 PM on March 27, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 3:34 PM on March 21, 2011