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Title details for The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger - Available

The Divorce Papers

A Novel

by Susan Rieger
Rebecca Lowman
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Witty and wonderful, sparkling and sophisticated, this debut romantic comedy brilliantly tells the story of one very messy, very high-profile divorce, and the endearingly cynical young lawyer dragooned into handling it.
 
Twenty-nine-year-old Sophie Diehl is happy toiling away as a criminal law associate at an old line New England firm where she very much appreciates that most of her clients are behind bars. Everyone at Traynor, Hand knows she abhors face-to-face contact, but one weekend, with all the big partners away, Sophie must handle the intake interview for the daughter of the firm’s most important client. After eighteen years of marriage, Mayflower descendant Mia Meiklejohn Durkheim has just been served divorce papers in a humiliating scene at the popular local restaurant, Golightly’s. She is locked and loaded to fight her eminent and ambitious husband, Dr. Daniel Durkheim, Chief of the Department of Pediatric Oncology, for custody of their ten-year-old daughter Jane—and she also burns to take him down a peg. Sophie warns Mia that she’s never handled a divorce case before, but Mia can’t be put off. As she so disarmingly puts it: It’s her first divorce, too.
Debut novelist Susan Rieger doesn’t leave a word out of place in this hilarious and expertly crafted debut that shines with the power and pleasure of storytelling. Told through personal correspondence, office memos, emails, articles, and legal papers, this playful reinvention of the epistolary form races along with humor and heartache, exploring the complicated family dynamic that results when marriage fails. For Sophie, the whole affair sparks a hard look at her own relationships—not only with her parents, but with colleagues, friends, lovers, and most importantly, herself. Much like Where’d You Go, Bernadette, The Divorce Papers will have you laughing aloud and thanking the literature gods for this incredible, fresh new voice in fiction.
Read by Rebecca Lowman, Käthe Mazur, Arthur Morey, and Emily Rankin with selections read by Susan Denaker, Mark Bramhall, Fred Sanders, Mark Deakins, Kim Mai Guest, Marc Cashman, and Kimberly Farr

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 18, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780804166362
      • File size: 385338 KB
      • Duration: 13:22:47

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from November 18, 2013
      In Rieger’s clever and funny debut—an epistolary novel told through memos, e-mails, and letters—Sophie Diehl is a criminal lawyer, working for a law firm in the fictional state of Narragansett in New England, similar to Massachusetts. As she says herself, “I like that most of my clients are in jail. They can’t get to me; I can only get to them.” One of the firm’s managing partners asks her to do an intake interview for Mia Meiklejohn Durkheim, daughter of one of the firm’s most important clients, whose husband served her with divorce papers at a local restaurant. Sophie reluctantly acquiesces and has to learn how to handle a divorce case (rather than a criminal one), while juggling family dynamics, nasty interoffice politics, and the ups and downs of her own romantic life, all as the year 2000 approaches. Lovers of the epistolary style will find much to appreciate. Rieger’s tone, textured structure, and lively voice make this debut a winner. Agent: Kathy Robbins, Robbins Office.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Rebecca Lowman, Arthur Morey, and numerous others read the letters, memos, and emails sent between the attorneys and clients of a 1999 divorce proceeding. Each narrator takes a different approach to emotion and, sometimes, accent when delivering his or her assigned correspondence. Young attorney Sophie Diehl learns about handling divorce proceedings from her deep- and resonant-voiced boss, David Grieves, as Sophie helps her client, a Mayflower descendant, divorce her husband. The story, organized by headings with dates and subject lines, is mired in details. The narrators deliver their parts fluidly despite the long-winded nature of the correspondence. Listeners expecting verbal sparring between the divorcees will be disappointed as their story is told primarily through legal documents. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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