Marrying the Mistress [Hardcover]

Joanna Trollope (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

The most provocative novel yet from the author who writes grown-up books for grown-up people.

Joanna Trollope, whose elegant, gently provocative novels are becoming as beloved in America as in England once again "captures the poignant rituals of family attachment and detachment with delicious wryness and large doses of empathy" (Good Housekeeping).

What happens when the esteemed head of a family--an English judge, no less--announces he is leaving a forty-year marriage to marry his mistress? How do his grown sons feel? How do his grandchildren respond? And how is that crisis compounded by the knowledge that his mistress is no mere bit of fluff but a spirited, accomplished young woman who is--to their dismay--immensely likable?

Marrying the Mistress is quintessential Trollope with an added perspective: that of the men in a family and how they interact across generations. Here are sons who could envision themselves being tempted by their father's new bride; mothers who cling forever to primacy in their son's affections; teenagers with insights clearer than their parents'. In Marrying the Mistress, Trollope combines her trademark sensitivity with a new boldness and unsentimental honesty that make this book her most true-to-life ever.

Praise for Joanna Trollope:

"Like a good kitchen chat, Joanna Trollope's novels dish out equal measures of reassuring warmth and sobering insight.... [Her] gift is her ability to capture far-flung perspectives with compassion."--The New York Times Book Review

"Trollope . . . has a remarkable ability to penetrate her characters' humanity, to find their vulnerable inner core, without reducing them to sentimental stereotypes."--Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

"[Trollope's characters] all get their due from an author who sees through them without ever patronizing them." --Elle

"Her books are . . . readable without being trivial, accessible without being pat, psychologically astute without being labored."--The Wall Street Journal

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The court official leaned closer.
"What's gone past," he said, "is not just an advocate, any old lady advocate. What's gone past is his Honour's totty."

And what's going past is the life of Guy Stockdale, a 62-year-old judge, who has been married forever, has two sons--Simon and Alan--and three grandchildren. For the past seven years, he's also had a mistress. Merrion Palmer is intelligent, attractive, and half Guy's age, which also makes her younger than both Simon and Alan. Her dad died when she was a toddler and she's well aware that Guy is something of a father substitute. For years the role of mistress has suited her, but, suddenly, this style of relationship isn't enough for either of them. They've both had enough of sneaking around and avoiding people, so Guy has momentously made up his mind to leave his wife, Laura, and marry Merrion.

Marrying the Mistress dives into the shock waves that buffet the Stockdale family after Guy leaves Laura. The novel addresses the question of how his sons are going to cope, the explosive opinions of his forthright daughter-in-law Carrie and what his teenage grandchildren make of it all. Can any of them avoid taking sides? Should they? And what about the abandoned wife, Laura, a woman apparently so long-sufferingly self-sacrificing she makes Mother Teresa look selfish?

From queen of the saga Joanna Trollope comes a dexterous portrayal of the causes and effects of marital breakdown: the stresses, the battle of wills, the bitterness and personal growth, the renegotiation of relationships--and an exposure of the depths to which the moral high ground can sink.--Lisa Gee

From Publishers Weekly

In her latest tale, about a May-December romance and its effects on the individuals and families involved, Trollope again displays her extraordinary gift for representing the intricacies of familial relationships and the vicissitudes of domestic life. British Judge Guy Stockdale, of the Stanborough Crown Court, is just over 60, and feels it is time to tell his wife, Laura, that for the last seven years of their 40-year marriage he has been deeply in love and having an affair with much younger Merrion Palmer. Merrion, a barrister, is only 31Dyounger than Guy's two sons, Simon (a 38-year-old father of three adolescent children) and Alan (a 35-year-old homosexual), and she forthrightly admits that Guy may be her father figure. Laura does not take the news well, despite the unhappiness that pervades her marriage. She obstinately refuses to talk or negotiate with Guy; characteristically, she clings to her favorite son, Simon, who's a lawyer, and forces him to represent her against his father. Laura's manipulation of Simon puts a tremendous strain on his marriage; his wife, Carrie, already resents Laura as a "self-absorbed, self-pitying woman" who uses her son as "a bloody substitute husband." Meanwhile, Simon and his family and Alan get to know and like Guy's mistress, an acceptance that Merrion ultimately finds intimidating, since she fears her identity will be subsumed in Guy's family. And Guy, dreading "the inevitable infliction of pain," struggles with guilty deliberations on Merrion's future with an aging husband. None of the themes hereDbetrayal and anger, the lovers' age difference, the grasping mother, the daughter-in-law's resentmentDare terribly unusual, but Trollope's proven ability to present them intelligently, as moral and emotional tangles faced by thinking, interesting people, satisfyingly combines the universally recognizable and the intellectually engaging. This novel should easily vault onto the bestseller lists. 12-city author tour; Penguin audio. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 293 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1st Us Edition edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670891509
• ISBN-13: 978-0670891504
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,829,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joanna Trollope has been writing fiction for more than 30 years. Some of her best known works include The Rector's Wife (her first #1 bestseller), A Village Affair, Other People's Children, and Marrying the Mistress. She was awarded the OBE in the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honors List for services to literature. She lives in England.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of British Writers in this genre, June 5, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marrying the Mistress (Hardcover)

Resident Judge Guy Stockdale decides to end his relationship with his wife Laura after four decades of marriage. The sixtyish Guy plans to wed his mistress of seven years Merrion, who happens to be about thirty years junior to the Judge and is even younger than his children.

Obviously his wife is stunned by his announcement. However, it is his sons and their wives and his grandchildren who react by what they perceive is the family patriarch's callous action of thinking with the wrong body part. One particular son, Simon, finds himself being pulled in several conflicting directions. He does not know whether to emotionally support his mother or his father, but realizes he has no option but to help both of them. His wife wants him to do neither as she does not want to "fund" her in-law's folly. Worse yet, Simon and his children find the former mistress turned fiancee charming to the point Simon would not mind filling his father's shoes. The aftermath of Guy's proclamation is just starting to evolve and the impact it makes on his close circle of relatives is just beginning to emerge.

Joanna Trollope is known for her deep thinking look at middle class England. Her latest novel carries the author's trademark of complex problems encircled by conflicting emotions swirling about real people. What makes this tale work is the fact that Merrion is not a gold digger, but is a spirited nice person and the fact that Ms. Trollope does not provide gift-wrapped solutions with a bow on top. Anyone who enjoys a poignant relationship drama by one of the sub-genre,s best will want to read MARRYING THE MISTRESS.

Harriet Klausner

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Surprising Reaction--mine !, February 9, 2001

By 

BeachReader (Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marrying the Mistress (Paperback)

If anyone had ever told me that I would read a book like this and sympathize with the mistress, I would have laughed. But this is just what happened, and I was totally surprised at my reaction. I guess this is the mark of a good writer--one who ccauses you to see something from a new and different perspective.

From the minute Judge Guy Stockwell makes his stunning announcement that he is leaving Laura, his wife of 40 years to marry his long-time mistress, emotions run rampant in the Stockwell family, but not necessarily in the ways you would expect. His revelation is like a large rock dropped into a small puddle-- the ripples are huge.

I think that Trolloppe is a master of character development--the characters were so well drawn and so fleshed-out. These people came to inhabit my home for several days and I came to know them quite well.

I am glad I finally got around to reading this talented author.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love & Divorce in England, August 19, 2002

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marrying the Mistress (Hardcover)

Previous to now I resisted reading Joanna Trollope's books although I don't know why. Then a friend recommended Marrying the Mistress and now I have found a new author to explore further. In the tradition of Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher, Trollope introduces us to ordinary people who are faced with changes and new challenges in their lives. And like Binchy and Pilcher, Trollope's characters become like family members who we come to appreciate and love.

Marrying the Mistress begins near London when Judge Guy Stockdale announces to his wife of 40 yeas that he wants a divorce. Not only does he want a divorce but he has already made plans to marry a woman, a 31 year old lawyer, who has been his mistress for the last seven years. As readers we now begin to see this revelation from different perspectives, the judges, his wife Laura, their two sons, a daughter-in law, grandchildren and finally Guy's mistress, Merrion. While sides are drawn over this dilemma, most of the characters would agree that the mistress is quite lovely. But as the plot develops and Guy's wife, at first pitiful and dependent becomes more assured leaving the reader to wonder what will happen next. When a series of startling events occur we watch as these people's lives are further disrupted and the changes in their lives have far reaching consequences.

Joanna Trollope, a resident of England and a descendant of Anthony Trollope, has a keen ear and eye not only for characters, but for their homes and surroundings areas. When the story takes place in Guy and Laura's suburban home we feel as if we are there and can see Laura's wonderful garden and the their dogs barking. And when Guy first meets Merrion during a train ride to London, we are seated next to them and privy to this meeting. Marrying the Mistress is a wonderful read whose characters and their lives reach our hearts and make us think about our own decisions, mistakes and regrets. Now that I've been introduced to Joanna Trollope's writings, I look forward to being further entertained by reading more of her books.