The Rest of Our Lives
by Ben Markovits
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Pub Date Mar 27 2025 | Archive Date Mar 20 2025
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Description
What's left when your kids grow up and leave home?
When Tom Layward's wife had an affair he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact.
He is also on the run from his own health issues, and the fact that he's been put on leave at work after students complained about the politics of his law class – something he hasn't yet told his wife.
So, after dropping Miriam off, he keeps driving, with the vague plan of visiting various people from his past – an old college friend, his ex-girlfriend, his brother, his son – on route, maybe, to his father's grave in California.
Pitch perfect, quietly exhilarating and moving, The Rest of Our Lives is a novel about family, marriage and those moments which may come to define us.
Advance Praise
'A deft, agile, intricate portrait of family life and midlife crisis, razor-sharp insights delivered with a throwaway lightness of touch . . . A perfect contemporary take on the American road-trip novel.' Lucy Caldwell
Praise for Ben Markovits
'Elegant, absorbing . . . What a fine ear Markovits has for the way people talk.' Guardian
'Markovits' writing makes the ordinary unforgettable.' New York Times
'Markovits is excellent on gradations of failure. He also has the patience and precision to capture the elusive minutiae of our inner lives and interpersonal relationships.' Sunday Times
Available Editions
EDITION | Hardcover |
ISBN | 9780571388547 |
PRICE | £18.99 (GBP) |
PAGES | 240 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Such a great book that explores what else is out there and who am I? It shows it’s never to late to start over and find yourself
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits
Tom drops his youngest daughter Miri off at university and just keeps driving, visiting various people along the way but with no real plan. But he can't run forever, he has to face up to his health issues and his wife, who had an affair 12 years ago and whom he intended to leave once Miri left home.
Loved this! I read it ahead of many others that are being published before it, mainly because my youngest has just left for university too. I absolutely loved it - the perfect mix of funny, poignant and thought-provoking. Very VERY highly recommended.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.
What struck me about this novel was the similarity, of narrative style, with Raymond Carver. I say that as a compliment, of course. And that style carries the reader through this quest type story, of Tom, whose wife, Amy has in the past had a affair, their son has left home, and their daughter is off to college. The question being asked, really, is what do you do when that happens - when you're left to live with the person who's betrayed you? There is another question running through this story, though, and that's Tom's illness, which other characters are concerned about, but he brushes off. As he travels alone, visiting old friends and his brother, and finally his son, there is a sense that he's reliving the past, perhaps even saying goodbye, and this adds to the mystery of his illness. In the end, we find out what's going on with him, and yes, the ending does ask the question, what will we do with the rest of our lives?
I'm tempted to say this is the best novel I've read this year, in fact, I'll say it. It really was the best novel I've read this year. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC.