Marrying the Mistress

"Just as one has forgotten the intense pleasure of reading Trollope, along comes another flawless novel." --Library Journal (starred review)

"A pleasure to read." --The Washington Post

"Despite its title, Marrying the Mistress is no mere sexy romp detailing the lurid details of a juicy affair. Instead, Joanna Trollope offers a domestic drama that gives us an insider's view of what happens to a family when the respected head of the household--60-year-old judge Guy Stockdale--announces he is leaving his wife of 40 years to marry his much younger mistress, Merrion. From his teenage grandson who thinks it's cool that Gramps can still snag a hot young babe to his feisty daughter-in-law who sets up a secret meeting to check out the Other Woman, this is a nuanced tale that manages to be both familiar and surprising. What makes the situation complex--and the book beach-bag worthy--is that Merrion is far from the stereotypical villain/slut/husband stealer. She is intelligent, independent, successful and impossible not to like. Reading Marrying the Mistress is like spying on the neighbors that everyone on the street is gossiping about--without the guilt." --Salon.com

"A modern-day Austen." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Masterful storyelling and memorable characters...a wise and gently truthful take on a highly charged subject." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"This novel should easily vault onto the bestseller lists." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[Marrying the Mistress] must be the popular British writer's most daring novel, as well as one of her most interesting...bracing and original...Trollope at her most challenging and thought-provoking." --The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Entertaining...great beach reading." --USA Today

"A novel rich in accurate, piercing detail of domestic life and populated with strongly developed, realistic characters...absorbing and excellent." --Booklist

"Splendidly nuanced." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A great beach or vacation read." --The Baltimore Sun

"Trollope again displays her extraordinary gift for representing the intricacies of familial relationships and the vicissitudes of domestic life...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." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Essential." --Library Journal (starred review)