An Actual Life: A Novel

By: Abigail Thomas

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis: An “entirely wonderful” novel about an unplanned pregnancy, and an unwanted marriage, in early-1960s New Jersey—“hilarious and deeply touching” (Anne Lamott). Virginia and Buddy “had to get married.” Their daughter, Madeline, was conceived the first time they “did it” in Buddy’s room at college. Virginia’s school asked her to leave, and her parents put on a wedding. And now? Well, as Virginia puts it, “now that we know each other a little better it turns out we are actually strangers.” In this second summer of Virginia and Buddy’s marriage, there is no money, no love, and no foreseeable future. Virginia, all of nineteen, is determined to either make it work or find a way out, especially after Buddy starts hanging around with an old girlfriend. But it won’t be easy, in this “masterful” tale of a less-than-perfect journey into adulthood that puts a surprising twist on what happily-ever-after can mean (Newsday). From the New York Times–bestselling author of A Three Dog Life and What Comes Next and How to Like It, this is “a coming-of-age story with a twist . . . wryly funny . . . bittersweet, nostalgic, magical” (Georgia Times-Union).

No Rating Yet