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Published by: Broadway Books
Release Date: May 12, 2009
Pages: 272
ISBN13: 978-0307405883

  

Synopsis

When Julia and Joe Ferraro first met, she was an edgy East Village girl who wrote music reviews for the Village Voice and threw famed parties in a gritty downtown loft with her friends. He was a shy, awkward drama student who followed her around like a lovesick spaniel. Now, many lean years later, Joe’s the star of a hit TV show and the Ferarros are finally living the good life in Manhattan. They have two quirky kids, a grand Upper West Side apartment, a beach house in the Hamptons and Joe has just been nominated for a Golden Globe award. Most importantly, Julia and Joe are still in love.

Or so Julia thinks until the fateful evening when she accidentally hears a voicemail on Joe’s phone – a sexy message left by a young woman who clearly isn’t just a friend. Suddenly, Julia, who had settled into a life of comfy clothes and playground committees, is in a tailspin, impulsively checking Joe’s messages, stalking him in cyberspace and showing up unannounced on his sets. Julia’s desperate search forces her to consider the possibility that in the long process of helping Joe become something, she has become a bit of a “nothing,” as her daughter once described her to her class on career day. Now, faced with the looming awards show and the possibility of a destroyed marriage Julia embarks on an accelerated self-improvement routine of Botox, hair-extensions and erotically charged shrink sessions while dodging the sancti-mommies who lie in wait for her at her son’s preschool each day.

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Praise

Outtakes from a Marriage was listed as #1 of the top nine summer “Beach Reads” by the New York Daily News.

“Ann Leary’s Outtakes From a Marriage is a sly domestic comedy with a razor edge. The author has a keen eye for the excesses of the rich and famous… Her experience as a bystander at the celebrity circus serves her well in this engaging variation on the old theme of marital infidelity.”
—Boston Globe

“Leary, wife of Denis, spins her inside knowledge into a sparkling debut novel…a bittersweet tale about love, marriage, and the perils of fame.”
—People

“Leary mines the laughs with her knowing New York-set story.”
—New York Post (Required Reading)

“The prose is sprightly … you’ll keep reading.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Leary… has an eye for the comedy of manners of the rich and idle.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Verdict: Leary, wife of actor Denis Leary, follows up on her critically acclaimed memoir, An Innocent, a Broad, with this fun yet not too fluffy debut novel. This glimpse of Hollywood glitz and glamour, coupled with a dose of reality, is an addictive and delightful read. For all popular fiction collections.”
—Library Journal

“How does a free spirit turned wife and mother cope with her actor husband’s infidelity? According to this debut novel from memoirist Leary (An Innocent, a Broad, 2004), with tears, irreverent humor and, ultimately, a reaffirmed sense of self. …[Outtakes from a Marriage] is a witty take on marital survival in Manhattan – with heart.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Outtakes from a Marriage is a ruefully funny novel about adultery, family, and the good memories that get people through hard times. Ann Leary is a sharp observer of domestic life and celebrity culture.”
—Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children, The Abstinence Teacher

“Memo to all men: Read this book. You’ll rejoice in its searing honesty and crackling wit. You’re sure to learn something about marriage, about women and, above all, about yourself as women see you. And women? You might see this book as a mirror where you discover yourself. You’ll know (I think: I’m only a man) how Ann Leary so often hits the nail on the head. I envy all who haven’t read this book. They’re in for a treat.”
—Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes, Teacher Man

“Outtakes from a Marriage is a hilarious, moving and addictive novel—once I started reading I couldn’t stop. This terrific book belongs on the shelf next to Nora Ephron’s Heartburn for its dead-on accurate and altogether human portrayal of a very public wife.”
—Dani Shapiro, author of Black and White, Slow Motion

“I loved it. I loved Julia—her strength, her vulnerability, and her realism—and I loved Ann Leary’s stingingly sharp observations of marriage and motherhood. I can’t even say it works as a stunning first novel, because it is far better than that. Ann is truly a writer with enormous talent and heart.”
—Jane Green, author of Second Chance