Trade paperback from the free book bank run by New Haven Reads.

From Publishers Weekly
Clara Hutt, 33, speaks for middle-class marital ennui as she reflects on her life, her indifferent husband, Robert, her two lice-ridden young boys, and her "roomy four-bedroomed Victorian terraced" London home and asks, "Is that it, then?" With a sense of humor that ranges from witty and raucous to simpering and mean-spirited, British first-time author Knight relates the ribald story of a modern woman and her quest for happiness. Clara, whose fragmented family consists of a mother who's fond of accumulating ex-husbands, a wealthy but distant father, two spoiled stepsisters and a listless stepbrother, resolves to have a "nuclear" family. After attaining this conventional goal, however, she discovers that marriage is more boring than blissful. The arduous rigmarole of "hoovering," chauffeuring, cooking and compromising leaves Clara unsatisfied. She tends to complain, self-deprecate and obsess on trivialities while comparing herself to her friends: Tamsin, who is single, unburdened and prowling for romance; Stella the "pottery cat," a rustic single mother who bakes her own bread; Naomi, the model housewife who feeds her kids gourmet lunches and manages to keep her home impeccably clean. Simmering with envy, longing for affection (and a little bit of "swooning"), Clara grows restless and seeks solace in the admiring eyes of an unlikely character. Although Knight's lively narrative entertains while animating many of the common misconceptions people have about marriage, the reader should be prepared to suspend belief for the final course of this chatty tale.

From Library Journal
Knight, whose weekly London Sunday Times columns are filled with wry social commentary, has joined the Bridget Jones school of novelists. With less-than-perfect grace, our heroine, Clara Hutt, is dealing with the mini-traumas of married life, including juggling freelance writing and parenting. Beset with a domineering but oh-so-chic mother, ditzy stepsisters, befuddled friends, and a mostly absent husband, Clara worries about her weight, the slide of her wardrobe from elegance to comfort, marital infidelity, and recovering from a disastrous interview in which she managed not only to insult an up-and-coming dance star but also to give him head lice. Despite her self-doubts, Clara proves to have sufficient resiliency to deal with the end of her marriage and the beginning of a new relationship. The witty commentary on middle-class mores and humor make this slight novel an enjoyable read and saves it from being simply a clone. Recommended for public libraries.

From Booklist
London Sunday Times columnist Knight's first novel portrays a marriage turned complacent after eight years and two children. Clara is a bright, self-deprecating writer preoccupied with rearing young sons with scant help from her removed but kind magazine-editor husband. With a soda stain running down the front of her blouse and extra pounds on her hips, Clara turns self-criticism into an art form in the presence of her stylish much-married mother, privileged stepsisters, and elegant husband. Concern over the absence of passion in her marriage finally dawns while friends and colleagues have affairs, break up, and reunite. Knight uses elbow-in-the-ribs humor to color Clara's increasingly unsettled mental dialogues and to conjure a hilariously bungled interview with a self-important dancer that leads to surprising outcomes. As Clara's undercurrent of worry finally breaks the surface, Knight, whose occasional British colloquialisms should amuse rather than deter American readers, ties the story up in an unexpected conclusion that is at once realistic and hopeful.

Not your typical chicklit, in that the protagonist is married with two kids and there is zero sex. (Well, another character has an encounter with a teeny peeny.) But Clara is snarky as hell, and I really enjoyed this book.

Lent to a friend at work, who probably won't journal.

RELEASE NOTES:

One of the books to restart LaughAtlantis's Chick Lit Bookbox, which has stalled.