The family man - Elinor Lipman

THE FAMILY MAN is classic Elinor Lipman - irresistible, incisive and pure pleasure to read.

Henry Archer's ex-wife is unhinged. And impossibly demanding. And recently widowed. A hysterical phone call from her is the last thing his calm, well-ordered life needs. But there is one happy side-effect: the chance to get back in contact with his beloved step-child, her daughter, with whom he lost touch when their wildly misbegotten marriage ended long ago. Henry is a lawyer, an old-fashioned man, gay, successful, lonely. Thalia is now twenty-nine, a would-be actress, estranged from her crackpot mother and about to embark on a risky plan to further her career by posing as the girlfriend of a struggling actor down on his romantic luck. When Thalia and her complicated social life move into the basement of Henry's Manhattan home, she finds a champion in her long-lost father, and Henry finds that out of chaos comes life, and maybe even love.

Elinor Lipman`s sharp, funny, life-enhancing fiction is loved by readers everywhere, and by writers as varied as Anita Shreve and Nigella Lawson, Maggie O`Farrell and Carol Shields. Her novels include The Inn at Lake Devine , Isabel`s Bed and The Way Men Act . Lipman`s novel Then She Found Me was the basis for a major film of the same name, released in 2008.

She lives in New York.

'Elinor Lipman's social satire is Larry David without the high-pitched whine...It's hard (even annoying) to have to put her novels... down. Delightful... snappy and smart'

'Delightful... just because something is 'light' doesn't mean it's not masterful...exquisite... Lipman mesmerized me. She hypnotized me. I admit it freely: I fell victim to the Elinor Lipman Effect'

'Sparkling...original, funny, achingly human characters'

'Elinor Lipman's tenth book finds her at the top of her singular game... Lipman's comic touch remains light but never slight. She writes dialogue that sizzles with playful, effortless wit'