The Husbands by Holly Gramazio @hollygramazio #MirandaRaison @PRHAudio @librofm

the setup…
Lauren is a single woman living in London. One night after returning home from a late night out with her girlfriends, her husband Michael greets her at the door. Trouble is, she’s not married and doesn’t know this Michael. But when she gets her bearings, everything in her phone and apartment says otherwise. As she tries to figure out what’s going on, Michael goes up into the attic to change a light bulb and someone else, another husband, comes back down! And so begins the cycle. Each time a husband goes up into that attic, a new one returns. Lauren soon realizes this is her life and uses the “magic attic” to figure out which husband and life is most suitable for her.

the heart of the story…
What a crazy phenomenon! I don’t know what triggered that attic but it might have been Lauren’s anxiety about her friend’s upcoming wedding where she’d have to face her ex-boyfriend and his new partner. The procession of husbands and the resulting new lives was dizzying and fascinating. Each time, I learned more about Lauren as she evaluated each one and why she would send them back into that attic. There were times where I’d see unflattering sides of her but it was just as insightful to her. And, there was at least one who was a bit scary.

the narration…
I’m so glad I opted to listen to the story as the narrator managed so many personalities and voices skillfully, elevating the experience. I particularly like how she managed the nuances of Lauren’s character as she evolved.

the bottom line…
It took a while for me to emerge from the drama of the different husbands and the new lives they brought with them from that attic to focus on the true substance of what was happening to Lauren. There were a lot of men cycling through her life and it began to feel overwhelming and tiresome. But then I took a long hard look at Lauren, discovering that she was learning more about herself and what was truly important…to her. What did she want versus what she was settling for with the men she’d chosen as husbands? There are secondary characters who are constants (most of the time) who grounded not only Lauren but me in the experiences. This was a novel approach to figuring out how who you are and what you really want in life. Contrary to popular opinion, I very much liked that ending.

Book Info

• Release Date: April 2, 2024
• Narrator: Miranda Raison
• Audio Length: 10 hours, 30 minutes
• Publisher: Random House Audio

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(Thanks to the Random House Audio and Libro.fm for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.)