Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2014
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
With pitch-perfect honesty and heartwarming humor, this captivating debut explores marriage, motherhood, identity, and what it takes to love someone - family members, friends, or spouses - for life.
Former folk singer Helen Sear was a feminist wild child who proudly disdained monogamy, raising three daughters - each by a different father - largely on her own. Now in her sixties, Helen has fallen in love with a traditional man who desperately wants to marry her. And while she fears losing him, she's equally afraid of abandoning everything she's ever stood for if she goes through with it.
Meanwhile, Helen's youngest daughter, Liane, is in the heady early days of a relationship with her soul mate. But he has an ex-wife and two kids, and her new role as a "step-something" doesn't come with an instruction manual. Ilsa, an artist, has put her bohemian past behind her and is fervently hoping her second marriage will stick. Yet her world feels like it is slowly shrinking, and her painting is suffering as a result - and she realizes she may need to break free again, even if it means disrupting the lives of her two young children. And then there's Fiona, the eldest sister, who has worked tirelessly to make her world pristine, yet who still doesn't feel at peace. When she discovers her husband has been harboring a huge secret, Fiona loses her tenuous grip on happiness and is forced to face some truths about herself that she'd rather keep buried.
Interweaving the alternating perspectives of Helen, her daughters, and the women surrounding them, "each new chapter brings a wise and tender look at single life, dating rituals, and marital unease" (New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Close). In this "absolute feat of storytelling" (bestselling author Grace O'Connell), Marissa Stapley celebrates the many roles modern women play, and shows that even though happy endings aren't one-size-fits-all, some loves really can last for life.
"Told from multiple points of view as the characters walk tightropes of tragedy, this intriguing and heartbreaking debut novel carefully illustrates the power that each of us has to define who we are and who we can become." - Publishers Weekly
"This novel does a fine job of exploring the complexities of modern relationships." - Booklist
"The women in Mating for Life are clever, honest, funny, and forever analytical as they stumble through the search for love. Each new chapter brings a wise and tender look at single life, dating rituals, and marital unease. This is one of the most charming novels I've read in years, and I loved every last page."
- Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses
"Acute and richly moving, Mating for Life triumphantly reaffirms the power of female relationships." - Beatriz Williams, New York Times bestselling author of A Hundred Summers
"Heartwarming and insightful, Marissa Stapley's unmissable debut is a sensitive, timely and compassionate exploration of family, friendship, self-discovery and the issue perhaps more at the crux of modern womanhood than any other - the struggle to keep hold of who you are while letting love in."- Abigail Tarttelin, author of Golden Boy
"Stapley is an heir to the likes of Wolitzer and Atwood, with an eye that misses nothing in the way we love, hurt, leave, support and sabotage each other and ourselves. This is vital and vibrant writing born of true insight into the human heart."
- Grace O'Connell, bestselling author of Magnified World
"Marissa Stapley searches through the layers women possess, how hard we work to hide the cracks, as we bury our secrets, pretend what's bad is good - and paper over the glaring flaws in our lives." - Randy Susan Meyers, bestselling author of The Comfort of Lies
"Honest and tender, heartbreaking and irresistible, Marissa Stapley's Mating for Life is a gorgeous debut in which I saw myself, my sister, and every woman I adore. An absolute must read for every woman who has ever been swelled, or felled, by love." - Tish Cohen, bestselling author of The Truth About Delilah Blue
"Mating for Life is an immensely readable novel, with smart, engaging characters who come to life on the page - the sort of characters you miss long after you've put the book down. You will see yourself in these women." - Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Forever, Interrupted
"I fell in love with the entire cast of characters Stapley has created, whose stories weave together beautifully and whose voices are so genuine, flawed and unique. They made me laugh, curse out loud and cry! This is an impressive, ambitious debut novel about love, forgiveness and acceptance which will undoubtedly warm your heart." - Hannah Tunnicliffe, author of The Colour of Tea
"I found myself slipping away at every spare moment to turn the next page. Marissa Stapley has created an interconnected story of unique, believable, relatable women. I absolutely loved this book." - Chantel Guertin, bestselling author of Stuck in Downward Dog
This information about Mating for Life 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.
Marissa Stapley is a writer and former magazine editor who contributes to Elle, The Globe and Mail, and The National Post, among others. She also teaches writing at the University of Toronto and editing at Centennial College. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two young children.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
