A Good Divorce

“A rich backdrop of period detail . . . This emotionally rich and socially aware novel touchingly evokes a time when the personal became awkwardly political.” —Publishers Weekly   Cyrus Stapleton thinks he’s done everything right—married young, fathered two precocious kids, and partnered in his Seattle law firm—but his wife, Jude, yearns for more. Envisioning Cyrus as all the czars and dictators of the nineteenth century rolled into a three-piece suit and herself as the liberated visionary, Jude sheds her ring, then her married name, and finally her bewildered husband.   Gripped by helplessness and self-doubt, Cyrus wonders how it came to this. Is it the fault of Jude’s women’s group and its fiery leader, Lill Epstein, the ex-army feminist with silicone breasts? Does Jude have a new lover? How does a reasonable man behave in the face of his wife’s demands for custody, alimony, and child support? How can he salvage his relationship with his kids when he sees them only twice a month? And what is he to do when, contrary to his best judgment, he becomes attracted to none other than Lill Epstein?   Searching for a way back to normal—through a men’s therapy group, the misguided assistance of his younger brother, and his kids (who begin to act out in troubling ways)—Cyrus must navigate through twists and turns, and a courtroom battle, to survive the upheavals of 1970s America with his heart intact.</