The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

There is already a buzz on The Husbands, similar to the kind of buzz that signals change in this book.  Lauren is a single woman, who one day has a man she doesn’t know come down from her attic.  He is a husband, but she discovers she can control the process by asking/threatening the husband to go back up.  They range from the useless, to the sinister, to a despised billionaire and the situation gets rapidly out of control.  So, how do you find happiness when you can’t find the right partner?

It’s an ingenious concept and Gramazio has the skill (in her first novel!) to explore the concept, twist it (how would you control it?) to twisting it again to give Lauren a chance of happiness - spoiler free, but let’s just say she’s not alone in having a magic portal.  She’s also a dryly witty writer, with her slang for London  (‘Zone Four Rich’) alongside Marian Keyes’ ‘feathery stroker’ as the best words to come from books in recent years.   

It’s published by Random House on April 4th and I thank them for a preview of what will be one of the best reads this year.  Curl, crack open a bag of Pretzel M&M’s and steer clear of your attic.