A heartfelt novel about a midlife crisis and a woman tired of being taken for granted—and a reminder that family, like happiness, can take many forms.

To the rest of the world, Polly Solo-Miller Demarest lives a charmed life. She has a beautiful home, a dashing lawyer husband, and two delightful children. But beneath this idyllic surface, the pressure of being the “perfect flower” of an illustrious family—and a stable, always-available wife, mother, and daughter—are getting to her. The spark has gone out of her marriage, and to her own surprise, she’s having an affair. What follows is at once cathartic and provoking, and both may be necessary states in order for Polly to become the kind of person she wants to be.

This edition includes an exclusive foreword for Book of the Month members by Elin Hilderbrand.

One of the best parts of being on Book of the Month’s Editorial Team is sharing with you, our members, a book or author you might not have encountered before. While we usually give this to you in the form of the best new releases, every once in a while, something different sneaks up on us. That’s why we’re thrilled to share with you Family Happiness by the late Laurie Colwin, an under-the-radar talent we’re shining a brand new spotlight on.

Using a powerful and unique voice to highlight the minutiae of domestic life, Colwin wrote a variety of fiction and nonfiction until her unexpected death in 1992. Her work is character-driven but never boring—each page is steeped in drama, humor, and sheer life. While Colwin wrote in and about a time decades ago, her singular ability to capture the human experience makes her work timeless. Book of the Month believes that Laurie Colwin still has a story to tell a new generation of readers, and so we wanted to give our members a chance to step into her quirky, relatable world.

Book of the Month has selected three books that capture the essence of Colwin’s talent. We begin this series with Family Happiness, a story of a woman in a midlife crisis and the messy—but beautiful—relationships that form it. An ode to the many forms that family and happiness can take, Family Happiness is sure to strike a chord in any reader.

And keep an eye out in subsequent months for more from the great Laurie Colwin.