MY HUSBAND'S SWEETHEARTS

Author: Bridget Asher ISBN: 9780385341899 8/2008 FICTION Publisher: DELACORTE

When Lucy discovered that her charming, cheating husband was dying, she came home, opened up his little black book, and decided she wasn’t going through this alone. After all, Artie’s sweethearts were there for the good times—is it fair that Lucy should have to manage the hard times herself? In this wise, wickedly funny new novel, Lucy dials up the women in Artie’s black book and invites them for one last visit. The last thing she expects is that any will actually show up. But one by one, they do show up: The one who hates him. The one who owes her life to him. The one he turned into a lesbian, and the one he taught to dance. And among them is a visitor with the strangest story of all: the young man who may or may not be Artie’s long-lost son. For Lucy, the jaw-dropping procession of women is an education in the man she can’t forgive and couldn’t leave. And as the women find themselves sharing secrets and sharing tears, they start to discover kindred spirits—and even something that’s a lot like family. But Lucy knows one thing for certain: the biggest surprises are yet to come….

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

MY HUSBAND'S SWEETHEARTS is a sometimes wickedly irreverent look at life and love and the secrets that are kept in even the most innocent-looking marriages. It is sometimes brutally honest but never over the top, and even though the husband in this story is terminally ill it is not morose. I enjoyed it because it is well written and shows that relationships come in all shapes and sizes, and even those pulled out of the deep, dark recesses of our pasts are worthwhile.

Artie is dying, something his wife Lucy doesn't want to face alone. In a moment of brave, devil-may-care pseudo-insanity, she calls up the women in Artie's little black book and invites them to visit him. After all, he's on his deathbed. Wouldn't this be the perfect time to come clean about his past? But what Lucy finds with the people from Artie's book is definitely not what she expects. She learns more about her dying husband by the people he's known and the lives he's touched than she's learned from the man himself. And in exposing his past, she has also learned something about herself—and her future.

I think one of the most intriguing parts of this book is Lucy's personality. She takes the bull by the horns and dives right into her husband's life... and death. Her insecurities, as well as her quirks (her organizational compulsions made me smile), are all brought out clearly. Also not glossed over is her initial reaction to meeting Artie's son. Their attraction is obvious, as are her feelings about her reaction to meeting Artie's son. All in all, Lucy is a character that won't be easily forgotten. She's human, in every sense of the word.

I enjoyed MY HUSBAND'S SWEETHEARTS far more than I even expected to. It is a telling tale about not judging a book by its cover—even if the book is small and black. Well done!

Kay James