A Great Marriage

July 1, 2024
When Dara and Austin fell in love, it was fast and furious. When they broke up on the eve of their wedding, it was equally tumultuous. A U.S.-based London architect, Austin had a one-night stand before coming to the States, and just learned the liaison resulted in a pregnancy that is high-risk for both mother and unborn child. To say that Dara did not take the news well is an understatement. The granddaughter of a marital-relationship expert and child of a long and loving marriage, Dara had a storybook vision of what hers should look like. Austin's betrayal undermines all that. Soon after Austin returns to England to await the birth of his child, his ex-lover dies in childbirth, throwing his world into chaos. Dara, too, is equally unsettled, exploring options, none as satisfying as what might have been. Mayes' (Women in Sunlight, 2018) talent for creating engaging, empathetic characters coping with the challenges of modern love is on full display in this supremely satisfying escapist love story.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2024
A broken engagement raises two questions: What makes a great marriage, and what do wedding vows really mean? This book delivers a grand love story with plenty of surprises, while admirably steering clear of treacle and melodrama. Dara Willcox, a well-to-do, lively North Carolinian headed to law school, falls for British architect Austin Clarke when they meet at a New York art gallery. The book opens with a celebratory engagement dinner marred by an ominous spilled glass of red wine. Dara's parents, Lee and Rich, are portrayed as having a "great marriage." Grandmother Charlotte, the Willcox family's titanic matriarch, offers wit and gravitas based on her epic second marriage. The engaged couple is surrounded by friends eager to participate in the wedding preparations. If the beginning of the novel presents a few too many points of view and fluid verb tenses, the story clarifies when Austin discovers a major obstacle to the wedding. Dara cancels the ceremony without telling anyone the reason. Austin returns to London, where we meet his father, an antiquarian bookseller, and sister, who's in a similar business. Austin reconnects with and leans on his sister as he navigates the thickets of his predicament, telling her that in "those old maps you and Dad love, there's always a dragon creature in the choppy waters where the known world ends. That's where I am swimming." Austin matures within these waters, while Dara takes advantage of her privilege to avoid thinking too much. Despite this setup, the characters deepen and mature over the course of the novel, making it easy for readers to empathize with their differing opinions and behaviors. Old-fashioned morality comes into play, with refreshing and satisfying results. The pleasure of this book is in its rare combination of eloquent writing, human insights, and page-turning storytelling.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 2, 2024
In this satisfying outing from Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun), two young lovers’ whirlwind wedding plans are waylaid by a consequential mistake and tragic circumstances. Aspiring law student Dara Wilcox meets architect Austin Clarke at a New York City art gallery in October 1994. She’s visiting from Washington, D.C., and he’s in town from London for work. Upon his return to England, he drunkenly hooks up with Shelley, an ex from his Cambridge years, then throws himself into a long-distance relationship with Dara. Those in their circles believe they’ve each found their “soul mates,” and by the following April they’re engaged. Dara’s family, led by her socialite grandmother, plans a lavish wedding, but after Shelley tells Austin she’s pregnant, he comes clean to Dara and she calls off the engagement. Despite a dramatic story line—Shelley turns out to have a blood disorder that could prove fatal in childbirth, and Dara, thinking of the pregnant murder victim played by Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun, compares the couple’s situation to that of the murderer and his unsuspecting lover in the film, played by Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor—the stakes feel relatively low for most of the novel, until a surprising and effective twist offers much to consider about forgiveness and love. Patient readers will be rewarded. Agent: Peter Ginsberg, Curtis Brown.