A sharply observed comedy of manners about straight marriage, gay marriage, and family ties stretched thin by politics, “How to Sleep at Night” is a witty and whip-smart debut reminiscent of “Fleishman Is in Trouble” and Emma Straub, by the New York Times book reporter.
Meet Ethan and Gabe. A devoted couple since their early twenties, they have successful careers, an adorable daughter, and a house in the New Jersey suburbs. Sure, they may have slowly drifted to different ends of the political spectrum, but their marriage still has its spark. Then one night Ethan makes a shocking announcement: he wants to run for Congress as a Republican. And he will only do it if he has progressive Gabe's blessing. For weeks a slightly queasy Gabe struggles between supporting his husband's dream and maintaining his own lefty ideals. He can feel himself slowly pulled under the tide of Ethan's political ambitions, even as he becomes widely known as a conservative spouse.
In a nearby town, suburban mom Nicole wonders what happened to her younger self-living in New York City, freely dating men and women, and on a path to a career in the art world. Bored and frustrated, Nicole feels like an accessory in husband's life, and she yearns for something of her own. She finds it one fateful morning when an old flame re-enters her life unexpectedly. That woman is Ethan's sister Kate.
A political reporter at a major newspaper, Kate has reached the top of her profession, and her career is at the very center of her life. But the adrenaline rush of chasing a story has lost its thrill. When Nicole, the woman who broke her heart-slides into her DMs just as her brother starts his controversial congressional run, Kate's life is thrown into a tailspin that threatens to derail the success she's worked so hard to achieve.
A witty and knowing novel about romantic and sibling love, ambition, monogamy, and the ways in which our identities evolve over time, “How to Sleep at Night” marks the debut of an accomplished novelist with the verve of Jennifer Close, J. Courtney Sullivan, Nick Hornby, and Emma Straub.
