The Husbands

READ WITH JENNA’S APRIL BOOK CLUB PICK - An exuberant debut, The Husbands delights in asking: how do we navigate life, love, and choice in a world of never-ending options? (＂A time-bending gem＂--Gabrielle Zevin; ＂Kaleidoscopic and bright and very, very funny.＂ -Claire Lombardo)

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem--she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

HOLLY GRAMAZIO is a game designer, curator and writer, originally from Adelaide and currently based in London. She wrote the script for the indie videogame DICEY DRAGONS, which sold over 850,000 copies and won the Indiecade Jury Prix Award; and she’s worked on digital and physical games with Naomi Alderman, Lawrence Lek, Warner Bros., Tate Modern and the V&A. She has PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide, cowrote a book on games for MIT Press, and has written for the Guardian, among other publications. THE HUSBANDS is her first novel.