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A hysterical phone call from his ex-wife and a familiar face in a photograph upend Henry Archer’s well-ordered life. They bring him back into contact with the child he adored, a short-term stepdaughter from a misbegotten marriage long ago. Henry is a lawyer, an old-fashioned man, gay, successful, lonely. Thalia is now twenty-nine, an actress, hopeful, estranged from her newly widowed crackpot mother - Denise, Henry’s ex. Hoping it will lead to better things for her career, Thalia agrees to pose as the girlfriend of a former sitcom star and current horror-movie luminary who is down on his romantic luck. When Thalia and her complicated social life move into the basement of Henry’s Upper West Side townhouse, she finds a champion in her long-lost father, and he finds new life - and maybe even new love - in the commotion.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (6/11/2026)
This past week I finished THE FAMILY MAN by Elinor Lipman. I had put this book on hold to read James Lasdun book THE FAMILY MAN that investigated the Murdaugh trials. Elinor Lipman's book was a familiar stor...
-Lynne_G
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (5/14/2026)
...cussion begins, but we will be staying in a hotel so I will try to participate in my free time. I have to apologize to everyone because if you notice The Family Man by Elinor Lipman when the ask the author is The Family Man by JAMES LASDUN. That is my fault. This is the second time I have downloaded a book with the same title but...
-Lynne_G
"Starred Review. The plot alone will suck in readers, but Lipman's knack for creating lovable and multifaceted characters is the real draw." - Publishers Weekly
"Another romantic comedy from the always clever Lipman." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Evocative of both Jane Austen and Entertainment Weekly, this will be another hit with Lipman fans. Highly recommended." - Library Journal
This information about The Family Man was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
elinorlipman.com
Elinor Lipman is the author of several fiction and non-fiction works. Her works include Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus, I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays, The Dearly Departed, The Ladies' Man, The Inn at Lake Devine, Isabel's Bed, The Way Men Act, Then She Found Me, and Into Love and Out Again. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, Gourmet, Salon, Self, More, and Yankee Magazine.
She has taught writing at Simmons, Hampshire, and Smith colleges, and won the 2001 New England Book Award for fiction. She lives in Massachusetts.
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