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Published Jan 2013
304 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A riveting novel in which an engaging and wildly irreverent woman is in complete denial - about herself, her drinking, and her love for a man she's known all her life.
The Good House tells the story of Hildy Good, who lives in a small town on Boston's North Shore. Hildy is a successful real-estate broker, good neighbor, mother, and grandmother. She's also a raging alcoholic. Hildy's family held an intervention for her about a year before this story takes place - "if they invite you over for dinner, and it's not a major holiday," she advises "run for your life" - and now she feels lonely and unjustly persecuted. She has also fooled herself into thinking that moderation is the key to her drinking problem.
As if battling her demons wasn't enough to keep her busy, Hildy soon finds herself embroiled in the underbelly of her New England town, a craggy little place that harbors secrets. There's a scandal, some mysticism, babies, old houses, drinking, and desire - and a love story between two craggy sixty-somethings that's as real and sexy as you get. An exceptional novel that is at turns hilarious and sobering, The Good House asks the question: What will it take to keep Hildy Good from drinking? For good.
A hilarious and sobering novel about life, love, real estate, and a little too much Pinot Noir
"Starred Review. Despite getting a little preachy toward the end, Leary has largely achieved a genuinely funny novel about alcoholism." - Kirkus
"In this second novel (after Outtakes from a Marriage), Leary creates a long-winded and melodramatic Peyton Place, but convincingly displays the corrosive and sometimes dire consequences of denial and overconfidence. - Publishers Weekly
"Leary's genius is to give us a true original: Hildy, a not-so-recovering alcoholic/realtor who crashlands among a colorful cast of New England neighbors, but Leary also says a great deal about the houses we choose to live, the people we're compelled to love, and the addictions we don't want to give up. So alive, I swear the pages of this wickedly funny and moving novel are breathing." - Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You
"I opened The Good House and was instantly sucked in; I read the whole thing in one sitting and was sorry when it ended. The story is atmospheric, funny, poignant, gritty, and romantic, and Hildy Good is refreshingly candid and lovably flawed." - Kate Christensen, author of The Great Man
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Cathrine White
Ann Leary is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels, The Children, The Good House, Outtakes From a Marriage, and the memoir An Innocent, a Broad.
Her work has been translated into eighteen languages and she has written for numerous publications including Ploughshares, NPR, Real Simple and the New York Times. Ann's "Modern Love" essay, "Rallying to Keep the Game Alive," was adapted for the Amazon Modern Love TV Series and stars Tina Fey and John Slattery. The Good House was adapted as a motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline and recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Her novel The Foundling was released in May 2022. Ann and her husband Denis Leary live in New York.
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Ann Leary's Website
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