A Happy Marriage

Both intimate and expansive, Rafael Yglesias’ autobiographical new novel is the story of the relationship between Enrique Sabas and his wife, Margaret. Spanning thirty years, the novel alternates between the romantic misadventures of the first weeks of their courtship and the final months of Margaret’s life as she says good-bye to her family, friends, and children—and to Enrique. Inspired by the author’s own marriage to his wife who died in 2004, this achingly honest story is about what it means for two people to spend a lifetime together—and what makes a happy marriage. Bold, elegiac, and emotionally suspenseful, Yglesias’ beautiful novel will break every reader’s heart, while encouraging all of us with its clear-eyed evocation of the enduring value of marriage. Winner of the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award. Selected for the July 2009 Indie Next List. A 2009 San Francisco Chronicle Best Book for Fiction. A New York Times Editor's Choice.