Author Laura Dave In Town This Week [The Divorce Party]

Author Laura Dave will be in town this week to promote her second novel, The Divorce Party, now in paperback. Whereas her first novel, London Is the Best City in America, focuses on the events surrounding a wedding, the action in The Divorce Party takes place within a 24-hour period in which Gwyn, a sixty-something Montauk housewife, throws a fete for her divorce. The novel is divided in four parts, with each part split among the characters of Gwyn and her soon-to-be daughter-in-law Maggie. While Gwyn is facing the end of a thirty-five year marriage, Maggie is coming to grips with her own commitment issues.

There is action in the novel, but a good part of the story is internal (there's a lot of thinking and remembering going on). Dave keeps the reader in a sort of suspense; Gwyn knows the real reason her husband wants a divorce, and it's not because of his new interest in Buddhism. Maggie comes to realize that her fiance Nate has left many things unsaid during their relationship so far.

Moments of humor and lightness are spare in Dave's second novel. The Divorce Party delves deeply into the relationships and (lack of) communication between characters:

If she didn't know that, at 9:30, instead of toasting their future, she and Thomas would toast their past, cut their cake, and go their own ways. Marriage over, integrity intact. Like the books suggest. Good for the family unit, good for closure. And simple. Right? If only Gwyn was feeling simple, if only that seemed possible. A simple ending. A new beginning.

Given the starkness of certain points in this story, you expect that there may not be a "simple ending" to The Divorce Party. Still, it is easy to see why such a novel might attract filmmaking-types - Jennifer Aniston's production company has already optioned the film rights.

Laura Dave will be reading portions of The Divorce Party at Lake Austin Spa this Thursday, May 14 at 5pm. The event is open to spa guests.