This Side of Married

The comedy of domestic manners gets a delightful update in this intoxicating novel that suggests a latter-day Pride and Prejudice transplanted to an affluent suburb of Philadelphia. Well-meaning but domineering Dr. Evelyn Rubin has one consuming wish, that her three daughters be happily married. Alice, the eldest, is about to tumble into a speedy engagement. Sensible Isabel is already married, and having second thoughts. Tina, the baby, remains blithely single, though always dreams of a perfect wedding down the line. As various men—some good, some fascinatingly bad—enter from the wings and the romantic complications mount, This Side of Married stands unveiled as a novel that’s as heady as good champagne and as rich as a genuine Sachertorte.