Couple Mechanics

by Nelly Alard

Genres: Family Life; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

At once sexy and feminist, this is a story of a woman who decides to fight for her marriage after her husband confesses to an affair with a notable politician
 
Juliette, a computer engineer, and Olivier, a journalist, have two young children and the busy lives of a modern Parisian couple. On a beautiful spring day, while sitting by the river watching her children play, Juliette’s cell phone rings. It is her husband. When Olivier confesses to having an affair, Juliette’s world is shattered.
 
How do you survive betrayal? Can a couple ever be united again? What lengths would you go to in order to save your marriage? These are the questions that this novel, with great intelligence, honesty, and humor, tries to answer. In its acute depiction of intimacy, Couple Mechanics exposes the system of forces at work in a marriage, the effects of the inevitable ebb and flow of desire, and the difficulty of being a man today.

Release date: January 19, 2016

Publisher: Other Press

Print pages: 320

Sample

You have to realize I didn’t want this to happen, Olivier was saying. He sat up tall and tried to catch her eye. It happened to me, that’s all, and at the time I thought it wouldn’t change anything between us. I even thought it wouldn’t matter much to you, I have to say. But to explain, I’d have to tell you everything from the beginning. How it happened.

Surely not, she said, turning toward him and lowering her arm, tired of waiting. I don’t want to know a thing. Not where or when or how. I don’t even want to know her name.

Olivier looked disappointed. He really would have liked to tell her, clearly.

We’ll get to it one day, we’re bound to, he insisted. Right from the start, in the back of my mind I’ve thought that I’d be able to talk to you about it later. I still think one day that’ll be possible.

No way, she said. Not now or later. Why did you tell me, anyway?

I couldn’t help it, I had to explain. I couldn’t make it to the movies.

She shrugged. Bad excuse, she thought. He could have carried on lying. Invented some problem with a deadline, a piece that needed finishing urgently. She was so trusting, never asked any questions, it wasn’t difficult.

Maybe, he said. But it’s a relief too. I feel better now.

She nodded.

Good for you. But for me, you see, it’s weird, because I don’t feel so good.