The Monogamist — John Mole

Half of marriages end in divorce. But is it all roses for the other half? From the author of Sail or Return, The Monogamist an original and moving comedy, bubbling with laughter and surprise, about staying married.

Alex and Tony are living happily ever after. They have a couple of children, a gentrified house. plenty of friends. While other people's marriages fall apart around them they stick to their vows. But after ten years together the front door is all that gets stripped on a Saturday afternoon.

Tony thinks that infidelity will make life together more exciting, but is the pleasure worth the pain? Or the expense? So he pretends to have a secret love life. He plant clues around the house - a blonde hair on his collar, lipstick on his shirt. To make Alex really suspicious, he buys her flower and scent when it's not her birthday, talks to her for no reason, take an interest in what she does all day.

But trifling with love is a dangerous game. Trifling with jealousy, love's other half, is more risky. Love may be blind but jealousy sees things that aren't there. Suddenly nothing is what it seems and both partners endure the agonies of infidelity without any of the ecstasy.

John Mole's comic vision is sharp and fresh but never cruel. Laughter is never far away, even when Alex sees her husband walk down the aisle with the girl of his dreams. The Monogamist another gleeful chapter to the comedy of marriage.
Packed with comic invention The Times
Perceptive and very funny Observer