Standard Deviation

(Paperback)

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One of the funniest books you will ever read Daily Mail

Standard Deviation is a marvel Kate Atkinson

Looking for a blissful summer novel Here it is Washington Post

This is the beach book for summer 2017 The Times

Addictive reading Mail on Sunday

A comic masterpiece Observer
A divinely funny novel about the challenges of a good marriage, the delight and heartache of raising children, and the irresistible temptation to wonder about the path not taken. This sensational debut will appeal to fans of David Nicholls, Nick Hornby, Nora Ephron and Lorrie Moore.

Graham Cavanaughs second wife, Audra, is everything his first wife was not. She considers herself privileged to live in the age of the hair towel, talks non-stop through her epidural, labour and delivery, invites the doorman to move in and the eccentric members of their sons Origami Club to Thanksgiving. She is charming and spontaneous and fun but life with her can be exhausting.

In the midst of the day-to-day difficulties and delights of marriage and raising a child with Aspergers, his first wife, Elspeth, reenters Grahams life. Former spouses are hard to categorize are they friends, enemies, old flames, or just people who know you really, really well Graham starts to wonder: How can anyone love two such different women Did he make the right choice Is there a right choice

Reviews

Not only one of the funniest books you will ever read, but true and poignant, too. Audra is one of the most memorable comic characters ever to leap from the pages of a book Daily Mail

I love this book. it reminds me slightly of my beloved Maria Semple and Norah Ephron Nina Stibbe

There is texture, intelligence, warmth and perspicacity that lifts it into the realms of Carol Shields or Curtis Sittenfeld. It plays in my head as a movie directed by Noah Baumbach or Nora Ephron I chuckled my way through Standard Deviation, but at times it made my heart ache The Times

'I love Katherine Heiny's book and underlined so many funny observations that had me laughing out loud. Amazing' Emma Gannon

Audra Daltry is a singular creation a character so funny, so appealing, so sure that she can change the world for her family that she will jump right off the page and take up permanent residence in your heart Kate Atkinson

Brilliantly funny India Knight

Heinys novel is a comic masterpiece and her Audra is the funniest heroine ever Observer

So comedically spot on about middle-class mores it feels unnervingly like shes in your head. Its one of those books that people fervently press on you Jenny Colgan, Spectator Books of the Year.

Funny, fresh, with the kind of perceptive observations that make you see family life, friendship, parenting and marriage anew Mail on Sunday

Heinys characters charming, flawed, relatable, tragic, hilarious are faultlessly constructed, lingering long in the memory like family or friends Observer

A book so funny and perceptive I want to be friends with its author Laline Paull

There are some painfully hilarious exchanges, but underlying the jokes is an emotionally intelligent dissection of conflicting inner worlds Sunday Times

Wonderful such a success New York Times Book Review

Both heart-piercing and, crucially, very funny New York Times

Author Bio

Katherine Heiny's fiction has been published in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, Narrative,Glimmer Train, and many other places. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and children. This is her first book.