The Husbands
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  • Published: 3 April 2024
  • ISBN: 9781784745363
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $38.00

The Husbands

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
3 Apr 2024
EBook
4 Apr 2024
Audiobook
4 Apr 2024
Hardback
4 May 2024
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A brilliantly original, funny and astute debut that examines how we navigate life, love and choice in a world of never-ending options

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

'One of the funniest debuts for years' SUNDAY TIMES * 'My favourite book of 2024' SOPHIE HANNAH * 'A time-bending gem' GABRIELLE ZEVIN * Endlessly funny, ultimately profound' JENNY COLGAN

You wait ages for The One . . . then 203 come along at once

One night Lauren finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband. All the evidence – from photos to electricity bills – suggests he’s right.

Lauren’s attic, she slowly realises, is creating an endless supply of husbands for her.

There’s the one who pretends to play music on her toes.
The one who’s too hot (there must be a catch).
The one who makes a great breakfast sandwich.
The one who turns everything into double entendres (‘I’ll weed your garden’).
And the one who can calm her unruly thoughts with a single touch.

But when you can change husbands as easily as changing a lightbulb, how do you know whether the one you have now is the good-enough one, or the wrong one, or the best one? And how long should you keep trying to find out?

***READERS LOVE THE HUSBANDS!!****
‘This book was INCREDIBLE! So inventive, funny and different’
‘I clapped out loud and cried’
‘I adored this book. Fast-paced and funny with heart’
‘Incredibly vivid, completely original’
'So many husbands so many personalities so much confusion so much fun!'
  • Published: 3 April 2024
  • ISBN: 9781784745363
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $38.00
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About the author

Holly Gramazio

Holly Gramazio is a game designer, curator and writer, originally from Adelaide and currently based in London. She founded the Now Play This, a games festival at Somerset House; wrote the script for the indie videogame Dicey Dragons which sold over 850,000 copies and won the Indiecade Grant Jury Award; and she's worked on digital and physical games with amongst others Naomi Alderman, Lawrence Lek, Matheson Marcault, Hide&Seek, Warner Bros., Wellcome Trust, New Scientist Live, Tate Modern and the V&A. Holly has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide, co-wrote a book on games for MIT Press, and has written for the Wellcome Collection, the Guardian, Science Gallery, Open University, Tabletop Gaming magazine, the London Essays, Arc and Critical Hits. www.hollygramazio.net

Praise for The Husbands

Brilliant, hilarious, surprising and wise. I devoured it

NAOMI ALDERMAN

WONDERFUL: fresh, original, hugely entertaining and oddly comforting . . . I laughed out loud countless times . . . the most fun I've had reading in the longest time. It is an utter delight

MARIAN KEYES

The Husbands is a wily and wonderful exploration of modern decision-making, kaleidoscopic and bright and very, very funny

CLAIRE LOMBARDO, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had

Richly characterized, philosophical, and funny. I enjoyed all the husbands, even (especially?) the terrible ones. A time-bending gem about the way we live now

GABRIELLE ZEVIN

Clever, fresh, inventive, The Husbands is wholly original

LOUISE O'NEILL

The most hilarious, fascinating and revealing novel you will read this year. It’s going to be the bookclub hit of 2024

KEITH STUART, author of The Boy Made of Blocks

A quirky, funny tale about how you decide on The One when there’s an endless supply

Grazia

One of the funniest debuts for years... Holly Gramazio has not only come up with the most ingenious conceit, she has summoned the humour and sophistication to pull it off... a brilliant satire on the Tinder generation's commitment issues

Johanna Thomas-Corr, Sunday Times

Laugh-out-loud funny, perceptive and utterly original, I guarantee you’ve never read a book quite like it

Sarah Manning, Red

[A] darkly funny take on modern romance

Eithne Farry, Mail on Sunday

I’ve been lucky enough to read lots of funny books already this year, and this is one of the best… [a] hilarious, relatable story

Nina Pottell, Prima

I can't remember the last time I opened a book, then refused to put it down till I'd finished it at 2am. Endlessly funny, ultimately profound

JENNY COLGAN

Delightfully addictive… a bottomless champagne flute of a novel

Elizabeth Hand, Washington Post

A clever exploration of modern dating, it has lots to say about love, life and satisfaction – and is utterly hilarious in the process

Anna Bonet

A witty multiverse romcom... neatly flipping the script on the quest to find The One

Hephzibah Anderson, Observer

Delicious

Parade

My favourite book of 2024… incredible fun to read and also properly profound and thought-provoking. I couldn’t have loved it more

SOPHIE HANNAH

Laugh-out-loud funny while deeply thoughtful this is a wonderful wonderful novel

JENNIE GODFREY, author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS

You are going to love it... funny, fresh... an absolute riot, just one of the best books I've read in long time

THE UNMUMSY MUM

I loved everything about it

Sara Lawrence, Daily Mail