Love And Houses

''...a breathless riff filled with irreverent dialogue and painful anecdotes that make you laugh out loud.''
Barbara Quick, New York Times Book Review

All writers, at some time in their lives, experience a book that ''writes itself'' without any effort at all.  Such was the case with Love and Houses, which races along like a greyhound after a rabbit, telling the story of a woman (Megan) who is seven months pregnant when her commitment-phobic husband (Andy) decides he needs a little ''break'' from marriage. 

You might think the novel is full of anger and hand-wringing, bitterness and strife (after all, an abandoned woman is about to have a baby), but it is pretty light-hearted. I wrote it when I was unbelievably happy.  I was pregnant with my second child, living in London with my fabulous husband, surrounded by friends - I was delighted.  I had no idea what lay in store for me (to find out, just read Daniel Isn't Talking).

Lauren Picker from New York Newsday wrote something so nice, I'll include it here. She wrote, ''Inside the pages of this delectably comic novel I was, ahem, hugely entertained.....Love And Houses is, simply put, laugh out loud funny. What makes the novel so compelling is not the story itself but Meg's inimitable voice and her acerbic take on everything from love and houses (obviously) to childbirth classes and Judith Lieber handbags....Reading this book is like spending an afternoon in a quirky old house with more charm than closets.  You wouldn't renovate a thing.''

In the case of Love and Houses, I wouldn't renovate it, no, but I wish it were on the market again. It's been out of print for a few years now but maybe it will come back someday....with a splash of new paint, perhaps?