On the HahaFiction shelf

The Husbands

by Holly Gramazio

Lauren comes home to her London flat and finds a man who says they're married. Her photographs and friends agree with him. When he goes into the attic, another husband comes down, bringing a different version of her life with him. Lauren can keep replacing partners, but every choice changes more than the man beside her.

Contemporary & literary Fantasy Satire Situational comedy

From the publisher’s blurb

“how do we navigate life, love, and choice”

Read the full description at Penguin Random House synopsis

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What makes it funny?

The candidates can disqualify themselves over remarkably small things. Publishers Weekly singles out a husband rejected for his toe shoes and another for his roomful of Funko Pops. Lauren's own resourcefulness is fallible too: in the opening extract, she tries to fend off the first unfamiliar husband with a small potted cactus and misses.

The comedy at work

The attic removes the ordinary limits on trying another relationship. Gramazio gives minor incompatibilities enormous consequences, since each husband comes with changes to Lauren's friends, career and home. Readers in book groups enjoy the British humor and the repeated problem of deciding whether the next marriage might be better.

Try this if…

The central attraction is the opportunity to test endlessly different lives. Readers interested in comic speculation about commitment and everyday incompatibilities will find more to consider here than which husband Lauren likes best.

Good to know

Reader reactions divide over the pace: some liked the concept but found it slow, and one stopped at chapter five. The ending also disappointed one reader; Publishers Weekly separately found the concluding action out of step with the rest of the novel.