Katherine Heiny

"A wise, bighearted, boundlessly joyful novel of love, disaster, and unconventional family from the celebrated author of Standard Deviation"--

Early Morning Riser

The celebrated author of Single, Carefree, Mellow, returns with her debut novel - a rueful, funny examination of love, marriage, infidelity, and origami. Simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, this sensational debut will appeal to fans of David Nicholls, Nick Hornby, Nora Ephron and Lorrie Moore Graham Cavanaugh's second wife, Audra, is everything his first wife was not. She considers herself privileged to live in the age of the hair towel, talks non-stop through her epidural, labour and delivery, invites the doorman to move in and the eccentric members of their son's Origami Club to Thanksgiving. She is charming and spontaneous and fun but life with her can be exhausting. In the midst of the day-to-day difficulties and delights of marriage and raising a child with Asperger's, his first wife, Elspeth, reenters Graham's life. Former spouses are hard to categorize - are they friends, enemies, old flames, or just people who know you really, really well? Graham starts to wonder: How can anyone love two such different women? Did he make the right choice? Is there a right choice?

Standard Deviation

A collection of 10 stories is filled with unwelcome house guests, disastrous birthday parties, needy but loyal friends, betrayal, jealousy and flirtatious older men and takes readers on a guided tour of the human heart. Reading-group guide available. 50,000 first printing.

Stories

Single, Carefree, Mellow

Games and Rituals

The beloved author of Early Morning Riser (“The funniest novel of the year.” —The Washington Post) brings us eleven glittering stories of love—friendships formed at the airport bar, ex-husbands with benefits, mothers of suspiciously sweet teenagers, ill-advised trysts—in all its forms, both ridiculous and sublime. The games and rituals performed by Katherine Heiny’s characters range from mischievous and edgy to tenderly touching. In “Damascus,” a mother fears her teenage son is making the same youthful mistakes she did, only to realize that he is wiser than she had understood. In “Twist and Shout,” Ericka’s elderly father mistakes his four-thousand-dollar hearing aid for a cashew. In “Turn Back, Turn Back,” a bedtime story coupled with a receipt for a Starbucks babyccino reveal a struggling actor’s deception. And in “561,” Charlene pays the true price of infidelity when she is forced to help her husband’s ex-wife move out of the family home. (“It’s like you’re North Korea and South Korea… But would North Korea help South Korea move?”) From one of today's most accomplished bard's of modern life—of waking up in the wrong bed, wearing the wrong shoes, being late for the wrong job, but being loved by the right people—a fresh and satisfying work of glorious humour and immense kindness.

TheSkimm’s Best of Skimm Reads NPR’s Guide to Great Reads The Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Fiction of the Year Minnesota Public Radio’s The Best Books to Give and Get: Fiction Picks of the Year An uproarious novel ("Both heart-piercing and, crucially, very funny." —Louise Erdrich, The New York Times) from the celebrated author of Single, Carefree, Mellow about the challenges of a good marriage, the delight and heartache of raising children, and the irresistible temptation to wonder about the path not taken. When Graham Cavanaugh divorced his first wife it was to marry his girlfriend, Audra, a woman as irrepressible as she is spontaneous and fun. But, Graham learns, life with Audra can also be exhausting, constantly interrupted by chatty phone calls, picky-eater houseguests, and invitations to weddings of people he’s never met. Audra firmly believes that through the sheer force of her personality she can overcome the most socially challenging interactions, shepherding her son through awkward playdates and origami club, and even deciding to establish a friendship with Graham’s first wife, Elspeth. Graham isn't sure he understands why Audra longs to be friends with the woman he divorced. After all, former spouses are hard to categorize—are they enemies, old flames, or just people you know really, really well? And as Graham and Audra share dinners, holidays, and late glasses of wine with his first wife he starts to wonder: How can anyone love two such different women? Did I make the right choice? Is there a right choice? A hilarious and rueful debut novel of love, marriage, infidelity, and origami, Standard Deviation never deviates from the superb.

A novel

The celebrated author of Single, Carefree, Mellow, returns with her debut novel - a rueful, funny examination of love, marriage, infidelity, and origami. Simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, this sensational debut will appeal to fans of David Nicholls, Nick Hornby, Nora Ephron and Lorrie Moore

From the author of Standard Deviation comes a wryly tender story of crises and cardboard boxes; of marriage and moving on. *Includes a free extract from Katherine Heiny’s debut novel, Standard Deviation*

‘I have rarely seen modern marriage reproduced so faithfully in print. It’s about love once the early romance has subsided. Hilarious’ Jojo Moyes, Woman and Home ‘Standard Deviation is a marvel’ Kate Atkinson ‘Addictive reading’ Mail on Sunday ‘A comic masterpiece’ Observer

Standard Deviation: ‘The best feel-good novel around’ Daily Mail

Ochtendmens

Graham Cavanaugh a divorcé de sa première épouse pour épouser sa petite amie, Audra, une femme aussi incontrôlable que spontanée et drôle. Or Graham apprend à ses dépens que la vie avec Audra peut aussi être épuisante, car elle est constamment interrompue par des appels téléphoniques interminables, des invités difficiles à nourrir qui éternisent leur séjour et des invitations à des mariages où il ne connaît personne. Audra est convaincue que la pure force de sa personnalité peut l’aider à se jouer des relations sociales les plus improbables, et la voilà qui escorte son fils à des goûters bizarres au club d’origami, et qui décide de nouer une amitié avec Elspeth, la première épouse de Graham ! Ce dernier n’est pas sûr de bien saisir pourquoi elle veut tant se lier d’amitié avec la femme dont il a divorcé. Et d’ailleurs, comment a-t-il pu aimer deux femmes si différentes ? A-t-il fait le bon choix ? Et surtout, le bon choix existe-t-il ? Roman divinement drôle sur les difficultés du couple, le plaisir et la complexité à élever des enfants et la tentation irrésistible de s’interroger sur le chemin que l’on n’a pas suivi. Traduit de l’anglais par Françoise Pertat

Katherine Heiny

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