The Husbands
Well, this is one heck of a fun read, but it’s also a poignant and wonderful one. The Husbands is a surreal, sprightly and delightful sci-fi-ish romcom that takes a look at what happens when one woman is beset by a bunch of possible futures – and future husbands.
Lauren Strickland comes home slightly buzzed from her best friend Elena’s hen party, and is alarmed to be confronted by a handsome man. He claims he’s her husband – and, more shockingly, all evidence, including the memories of her friends and the pictures in her house (which has now been transfigured) point to this being true. Then one day her husband goes into the attic to change a lightbulb… and comes down as an entirely different person.
It’s not just the husband in question who shifts each time he goes up into the attic – her life, her plans, her job, her ambitions, most of her friends, the décor, and the worlds of her sister and downstairs neighbors also shift in time with the attic’s mischief. At first, Lauren just trades up husbands rapidly in her quest to find a date for Elena’s wedding; but eventually she finds herself exchanging husbands on a whim, turning them out whenever they present the least bit of annoyance to her, or sometimes for no reason at all.
But then the possibility of love tempts Lauren. What can she do about the attic if she’s found it, and is this Mr. truly Mr. Right?
The Husbands is, of course, a metaphor for the deathless pursuit of sex and love, and it’s thought-provoking and touching, funny and wry. It covers every aspect of the romantic experience from every angle. If you don’t dive into the novel expecting a grand solution to the mystery set before Lauren, you’ll find yourself quite content to live beside her, even as her missish quest for the right man makes her seem unlovable. But that is the ultimate point.
The supporting characters are fantastic, my favorite being Bodhi, Lauren’s only confidant in the matter of the husbands. Every other character feels truly well-drawn – well, at least the ones we spend time with. This is a romance in love with the idea of finding the right ‘one’, rather than a story about a real romance – so don’t get attached to any of those husbands. I loved the London neighborhood the author plunges her into, and while I wanted to know much more about the magical system that keeps Lauren bound to the place, I was also content simply to let it happen and the mystery be. So many tones intermarry in this novel – there are horror and suspense elements, character study, romance, comedy and drama.
There is a great Shel Silverstein poem called Almost Perfect, which this story and Lauren’s quest for the perfect husband absolutely reminded me of. Her almost-but-not-quite journey through romance is compelling, shocking, funny, touching. The Husbands is one of the best novels of the year.
Recent Comments
This review makes me think we should start to add a tag to our reviews that lets readers know if it has an HEA or an HFN ending.
If it helps to know,
And see, reading this review, I wouldn’t have guessed that. I’m thinking since most people are here for romance, we should maybe start indicating whether or not a book meets that criteria.
I think most of us do put that info in the review somewhere – I know I do it when the book isn’t a straighforward romance or if it’s a same-couple series, something like that. I think it’s become harder to tell with the WF/CR hybrids that have become commonplace nowadays, though.
I think if we talk about romance in a book, it’s reasonable to wonder what that means at the story’s end.
I agree, but I was just saying that most of us already indicate whether there’s an HFN/HEA in the body of the review if the book is anything other than a genre romance.
That’s good!
Well, it’s important to have some kind of mystery when it’s WF, especially when it’s a book like this, IMO. With CR and HR and the like, generally, an HEA is guaranteed. I agree with Caz vis the hybridization of the genre.
It might be easier to mark those books that do NOT have the expected HEA/HFN? I would expect a huge percentage of books reviewed here that are categorized as romances of any genre to qualify. Unless you are thinking to tag HEA separate from HFN?
I wonder if it makes sense to create a tag for books/series in which the characters get a HFN (the relationship is obvious and progressing) at the end of any given book, but the big HEA doesn’t come until later or at the end of a series. What would you call those? HEA across a series? Relationship arc?
I guess I just want to know, before I read a book that has a romance in it, if the ending is happy or sad.
same for me – I often decide based on that.
In a same-couple series in a genre other than CR or HR – like Nicky James’ Valor and Doyle series, for example – you’d just tag each book with HFN I suppose, and the final book with HEA. Personally, I wouldn’t envisage anything more complicated than that. That said, though, the first book in that particular series isn’t really an HFN as the characters aren’t planning on entering a relationship. I mean, readers KNOW that’s where things are going and the author made clear there would be an HEA. But not tagging the book with either might put people off reading it.
As I’ve said upthread, I think most of the reviewers here indicate the HFN/HEA status in the text of their reviews if there’s likely to be any doubt; I will usually pick up on it when I’m editing/uploading reviews to the site, and go back to the reviewer if I think they need to mention it. I think this one is an outlier because there was a good reason not to include that information.
This was one of my BOTM picks!
It’s so good, isn’t it?
This sounds a lot like Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library – a main character faced with alternate realities. Although, based on this review, this title sounds like it might be a lighter read.
It’s also a bit like Sliding Doors to a degree, though the premise is pretty fresh!
My library has a long line for this book. It sounds really good!
It truly is, and it’s worth the wait!
You had me at “sci-fi romcom”! Sounds like so much fun—great review. I purchased this immediately.
Hope you like it!