A Better Man

Name: A Better Man
Brand: Hachette Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Leah McLaren
ISBN: 9781478904168

Author: Leah McLaren

Narrator: Eva Kaminsky

Unabridged: 9 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: 07/07/2015

Categories: Fiction, Women, Family Life

Synopsis

What if the only way you could get out of your marriage was to become the perfect husband?

Nick and Maya Wakefield's relationship has been in crisis since Maya left her high-powered legal career to stay home with their now 3-year-old twins. Today she feels invisible, anxious, and under-appreciated, and Nick has checked out of family life. Sex is a distant memory and the love is gone.

A workaholic and a consummate flirt, Nick has decided he wants out. But he balks when their old friend, a divorce attorney, shows him that as sole breadwinner, he stands to lose the most. Together, he and his friend hatch a plan: Nick will act like an ideal husband and father in order to ease the pain of leaving and make out better in court. So he encourages Maya to go back to work, spends time with the kids, and even takes her on a vacation without them. But with his cynical ruse comes a surprising change of heart. Nick is astonished to find his actual emotions match his act and now his marriage is truly on the mend. That is, until Maya finds out, and Nick's world falls to pieces. Now his only hope of saving his family is to prove to his wife that he really is the man he was pretending to be.

A Better Man is a sharply observant novel of the pitfalls of marriage and success, and how one couple must lose it all before they can hope to find their way back.

About Leah McLaren

Leah McLaren is an award-winning journalist, screenwriter, and novelist. Her two novels, The Continuity Girl and A Better Man, have been published in half a dozen countries and translated into several languages. She has also written for film and television. She began her career as a columnist for the Globe and Mail, where she spent a decade on staff and was posted to the London bureau. For many years she was Europe correspondent for Maclean’s magazine, for whom she now serves as a contributing editor. She is a frequent contributor to many respected publications, including the Guardian, the Observer Magazine, the Spectator, and Toronto Life. In 2013, she won a gold National Magazine Award in the long-features category. She was born in rural Ontario, and grew up in Cobourg and Toronto, Ontario. Today she lives in London, England with her husband and two sons.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sebastian on July 19, 2015

I'm giving this book a 3/5. While this is a book I would have never normally read otherwise, I won it via a Goodreads Giveaway so I gave it a chance. From very early on to the very last page of the book, I didn't really connect with the main characters. They seem like snobby yuppies. Even as Nick turn......more

Goodreads review by Kathy on September 15, 2015

A Better Man by Leah McLarenis a captivating, thought-provoking novel about a couple whose troubled marriage is on the verge of collapsing. Nick and Maya Wakefield were, at one time, the perfect couple with a happy, sex-filled marriage. However, their once happy union has slowly disintegrated in the......more

Goodreads review by Kathryn on October 04, 2015

Originally reviewed at Novel Escapes I found the whole novel dark with underlying greyness. There was obviously a reason for this as they couple are not the on the same page about their marriage or their positions in it (or indeed the world). Nick was so bland at first that I hardly could understand w......more

Goodreads review by Angela on February 09, 2020

I'm giving this book 2.5 stars and rounding down. I only liked the kids.......more

Goodreads review by Tmstprc on January 17, 2020

Is it a cautionary tale? Probably not, I was left with a feeling of be careful what you wish for and be careful who you trust. I’m not so sure that was the author’s point. Neither are all that likable, initially both are incredibly shallow but in very different ways. He’s defined by money and things......more

Quotes

"Supremely entertaining, perceptive, and laugh-out-loud funny, A Better Man is certainly one of the year's best novels. Leah McLaren's book is a tender, true and pitch-perfect portrait of contemporary love, marriage and parenthood, and the complex and uncertain definition of what it means to be 'happy.'"—Julia Fierro, author of Cutting Teeth

"Leah McLaren's A Better Man is ruthless and heartwarming by turns, filled with characters who refuse to conform to expectations. McLaren digs into the disorienting, hilarious, and sometimes flat-out absurd negotiations of modern relationships and identities with a sharp eye and a sharper wit."— Grace O'Connell, award-winning author of Magnified World

"In this engrossing new novel, Leah McLaren deftly balances humour and pathos to weave a touching, entertaining portrait of a marriage in crisis. A great read!"—Terry Fallis, bestselling author of No Relation

"Inside every couple's marriage is a secret known only to them. One of the many pleasures of Leah McLaren's novel is the way she opens a window onto that secret, with great heart and wit. Wince in recognition then laugh out loud, just like life."—Elizabeth Renzetti, author of Based on a True Story

"Witty. . . . McLaren's writing is crisp and her characters are surprisingly fresh, resulting in a novel that celebrates breaking away from the expected."—Publishers Weekly

"Savvy, insightful, and hysterically funny. I absolutely loved it."—Lauren Weisberger

"Leah McLaren is a wit for the ages."—Toby Young, author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People