In this delightful novel, Abigail Thomas takes readers back to the summer of 1960 and into the heart of a young woman embarking on a marriage not exactly made in heaven.

"It is too bad marriage doesn't come with attachments like a vacuum cleaner. You can't do anything with ours. Ours just sits there and blows hot air," says Virginia, the 19-year-old narrator of An Actual Life. Having gotten pregnant in the late 1950s after a single night of not so blissful sex, she is now mired in a joyless marriage. Her young husband Buddy works, goes to school, and ignores her, preferring to spend free time with his high school girlfriend Irene, whose marriage to Buddy's best friend Chick seems just as much of a sham. In the meantime, Virginia plays with their daughter Madeline, repeats every superstition she's ever heard--passing on the stairs is bad luck, a dropped knife heralds a man's arrival--and obsessively charts Buddy's comings and goings. Quirky humor makes the reader laugh and wince, while adept characterization and flowing prose add up to a wonderful, featherweight novel.

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