The First Husband by Laura Dave is a contemporary women’s fiction novel that examines the unpredictability of life.
The First Husband
Annie is a west-coast-based travel writer with a long-time live-in boyfriend and a great dog. Then one day Nick the boyfriend decides he needs to see what else is out there and moves out.
Left to figure out her own life, Annie meets Griffin and ends up marrying him in a few short months and moving across the country to his home in Massachusetts.
What The Story Is Asking
If you’re familiar with this book blog, you know I enjoy character-driven fiction, but a story also needs to examine a relatable theme for me. This contemporary fiction novel asks an incredibly difficult one for me: what if something is not what we want but it’s something we need?
Annie thinks she has the perfect life with Nick, but when he moves out, she’s left to re-examine everything she knew. Enter Griffin who is completely different from Nick. When you’ve been through something that hurts you, it’s hard to resist something that is completely different.
When she ends up in a disaster situation in Massachusetts, married to a man she realizes she doesn’t really know, she must ask herself that very question and the one that is even more difficult. Is the life she needs so different from the one she thought she wanted?
You Get It
This women’s fiction book made me uncomfortable in the best way possible. There were times I was yelling at Annie to get the heck out of there. She didn’t need this! But Dave stacks the cards in just such a way that you can’t help but question even what you as the reader thought you believed.
Final Thoughts
The First Husband by Laura Dave has rich and complex characters, great settings, and enough challenges to keep the pace moving swiftly.
