Product Description

When Doug Parker married Hailey - beautiful, smart and ten years older - he left his carefree Manhattan life behind to live with her and her teenage son, Russ, in the suburbs. Three years later, Hailey has been dead for a year, and Doug, a widower at 29, just wants to drown himself in self-pity and Jack Daniels. But his family has other ideas... Russ is furious with Doug for not adopting him after Hailey died, and has fallen in with a bad crowd. Claire, Doug's irrepressible and pregnant twin sister, has just left her husband and moved in, uninvited, determined to turn his life around. Then there's Debbie, their younger sister, engaged to Doug's ex-best friend and maniacally determined to pull of the perfect wedding at any cost. Soon, Doug finds himself trying to forge a relationship with Russ, reconnecting with his own eccentric nuclear family, and reluctantly dipping his toes into the shark-infested waters of the second-time-around dating scene. It isn't long before his new life is spinning hopelessly out of control...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #83212 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror
"Well written lad-lit with a distinct American twang"

Review
"Humorous...but also poignant and moving -- I had tears in my eyes on more than one occasion" (Philip Wicks The Bookseller )

"consistently witty, often insightful and full of strong and engaging characters" (Toby Clements Daily Telegraph )

"Sad, funny, brilliant, How to Talk to a Widower is one of the great books of the season" (Evening Herald )

Toby Clements, Daily Telegraph
"this is romantic and schmaltxy in the best sense... it is consistently witty, often insightful and full of strong and engaging characters."

Customer Reviews

life after death
If this book is based on fiction it is simply unbelievable. The feelings one goes through after having lost ones wife/husband/friend/companion are really written as if Jonathan Tropper has experienced such a loss. I don't know if he has, but I can only recommend this book to anyone who has to continue life after death of his or her dearest. Tropper puts words to your own emotions and puts a smile on your lips.

Fantastic!
I absolutely loved this darkly wry and clever novel. From the beginning, this book was easy to read; it was fluid and smooth and the writing was crisp and refreshing. There were so many elements that made this book work, which is why it will appeal to such a wide range of people. I loved Doug's gritty addiction to Jack Daniels and his distracted intolerance of his crazy family and errant stepson. But at the same time, I loved the heartfelt message the book was sending; the sentimental and heartbreaking scenes of emotional unrest as Doug tries to come to terms with his wife's tragic death.

This has been described as lad-lit, and while i think it fits that category well, i think females of all ages will also become addicted to this fresh and versatile novel.

Utterly compelling..........
I absolutely loved this.

It's such a wonderfully written book that describes what life can be like when an event you expect to happen when you are much further on in your life suddenly hits you like a thunderbolt when you're still a young person.

Doug is a 29 year old widower and this is the story of his life 12 months after losing his wife. Andrew Tropper beautifully describes Doug's emotions - the conflict and guilt he feels not wanting to let of his life with Hailey yet knowing he must build a new future without her. His relationships with his family, friends and step-son are described with a dry wit and humour in almost every encounter.

The comparison of his own situation with his mothers is brilliantly done -Doug has lost his partner completely, his mother mourns the loss of a little piece of her husband every day. Whose situation is worse?

Like the other reviewers I thought this might be a bit high brow and a bit moralistic. But it's neither. It's just a great book about what it really means to love someone and what it feels like when you lose them - all done with a cleverly crafted comic touch