There are a few things you need for a good book club pick. First and foremost, it should be compelling—you don’t want anyone showing up and saying they just couldn’t get into the story (or worse, couldn’t finish the book).
Next, you want to make sure the book isn’t too long. And finally, it should give you plenty to talk about. There are lots of books that tick all of these boxes—but few have grabbed us quite like So Happy Together, Deborah K. Shepherd’s novel about love, regret, and one woman who decides to risk everything.
Set in the 1980s, Carolyn “Caro” Tanner has three kids, a handsome husband, and a gorgeous house in Connecticut. But she can’t stop thinking about what her life would have been like if she had stood up for herself more and stuck to her creative roots. And as she and her husband drift further apart, she especially can’t help thinking about Peter, her first real love from her college days in Tucson during the 1960s.
For years, the idea of leaving her kids kept her from doing anything drastic (though she still smells her husband’s clothes every day, hoping for evidence of another woman’s perfume as an excuse to leave him). But when Caro has a nightmare about Peter, she’s sure he needs her—and with all of her kids going to summer camp for two months, it’s the perfect opportunity. So, she packs a bag, drops off her kids, and then sets off on her own, blowing off dinner plans with her husband in the process.
We won’t spoil where the rest of this goes, but we can already picture ourselves with wine glasses in our hands, discussing the vivid settings of the 80s and the 60s; whether Caro was crazy or courageous for taking off; and all the ways life and love never turn out quite like you plan.
If this sounds like a conversation you want to have with your book club, download So Happy Together now!
So Happy Together
“Many of us waste years fantasizing about a lost love, but the feisty heroine in So Happy Together takes to the road to track him down. This compelling novel is about how a smart and lusty drama student in the tumultuous ’60s discovers twenty years later that she’s trapped in a failing marriage. Shepherd’s engaging characters make mistakes, hurt, and lash out, yet ultimately clean up the mess with kindness and humor. Their search for understanding is what ultimately sets them free.”―Elizabeth Garber, author of Implosion: A Memoir of an Architect’s Daughter
