A novel about love and marriage — about why we fall in love and why we marry, why we stay and why we go. In this brilliant sequel to the internationally bestselling Man and Boy, Tony Parsons reminds us why he is a favorite author in over thirty countries.

          Parsons is the author of Man and Boy, a sentimental tale of a savvy London TV producer learning to come to terms with his small son after a divorce. That book was a runaway success in the author’s native land and scored a large paperback sale in the U.S.

          Harry Silver is remarried to upwardly mobile caterer Cyd, who also has a child, Peggy, by a previous marriage. It is hard enough for Harry to make friends with Peggy and cope with a wife whose work keeps her out of the house a lot, but he must also keep in touch with his son, Pat, whom former wife Gina is whisking off to the States with her new husband. 

          There are a lot of rather formulaic situations here, and Parsons is determined to milk every situation for a possible tear or two, including Harry’s ill-advised romance with a lovely Japanese photographer. What prevents the book from dissolving into pure mush is Parsons’s eye for the humor in awkward situations-the supermarket scene in which Peggy blandly makes Harry out to be a child molester is beautifully done – and his nostalgic feeling for an older generation made of sterner stuff: his portrait of Harry’s aging mum, battling cancer, is the best part of the book. There’s a real writer at work here.