Description

This is an auction for THE BREAKDOWN LANE by Jacquelyn Mitchard.

"Look up the word 'cad' in the dictionary, and you should find Leo Steiner's picture beside it. Selfish, shallow, and arrogant, he epitomizes a middle-aged man undergoing a midlife crisis, and deserves a high rank on anyone's list of low-life losers. In Mitchard's latest foray, Leo abandons his 20-year marriage to Julianne, parentage of two teenagers and a toddler, and a lacklustre legal career in favour of a utopian existence on a commune with some hippies. His departure comes just as Julie is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and the teenagers and toddler all hit the peak of their age brackets' vulnerability. It is how Julie deals with this despicable lout, the dissolution of her marriage, the disruption of her family, and the deterioration of her health that showcases Mitchard at her relationship-defining best. Julie is admirable yet approachable, neither a long-suffering martyr nor a whining, clueless cliché. She copes, she cries, she fusses at her kids; they yell back. The eldest, Gabe, a learning-disabled teen outcast, is both his mother's rock and the novel's heart, his journal entries revealing a wise and sensitive young man. An astute observer of family dynamics, Mitchard renders her characters flawlessly, endowing them with a humanity that is both accessibly grounded and astonishingly deep."

Booklist (US)

"Rousing melodrama; fluid, often funny, dialogue; and the convincing portrayal of children involved in the collapse of a marriage add up to another page-turner from Mitchard."