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“Elinor Mackey is cleaning out her purse, trying to lighten her load, wondering how a broken sprinkler head wound up among the contents, when she first learns that her husband, Ted, is having an affair.”
Elinor picks up the phone to call her friend, and she accidentally overhears Ted’s conversation with some mystery woman named Gina—and she suddenly realizes that she and Ted lost touch long ago. For months, Elinor has been focused on getting pregnant. She’s gone through all the treatments and procedures—but none of them seem to work. And while Ted’s been there with her through every step of the way, Elinor suddenly realizes that she eventually stopped paying attention to her husband and became completely focused on her desperation to become a mother.
And suddenly, there’s Gina. Gina is Ted’s personal trainer. And while Ted knows that the relationship should never have started—because he really does love Elinor—he can’t seem to let go, either.
After Elinor confronts Ted, he ends his relationship with Gina, determined to focus on his marriage and continue to be the loving, dutiful husband that he always has been. But neither Ted nor Elinor can ignore the fact that the affair has changed their relationship. The two struggle to figure out their feelings for one another while Ted struggles with his feelings for Gina—and for her son, Toby, who’s been attached to Ted since the first time they met.
From the first line of Lolly Winston’s latest, Happiness Sold Separately, I was hooked. How could I not fall in love with a woman who tosses broken sprinkler heads in her purse? Because Elinor is incredibly human. She’s confused and indecisive and just a little bit crazy. And just as real human problems aren’t always easily fixed, neither are Elinor’s.
Instead of taking the easy way out, Winston takes her characters through a roller coaster ride of emotions and difficult decisions. The story doesn’t head in one direction, pointed straight toward a neat and happy ending. And that makes the story so real. Because, unfortunately, in real life there aren’t always neat, tidy conclusions. Like real life, Happiness Sold Separately is sometimes heart-breaking and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. It meanders around a bit, searching for the right answers—but, despite the wandering, it never lost my interest. Winston’s wonderfully readable style, along with her fascinating characters and her unfaltering honesty, make Happiness Sold Separately a novel that you won’t want to miss.
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