Introduction

New York Times bestseller!
From the bestselling author of The Leftovers and Little Children comes a penetrating and hilarious new novel about sex, love, and identity on the frontlines of America’s culture wars.

Eve Fletcher is trying to figure out what comes next. A forty-six-year-old divorcee whose beloved only child has just left for college, Eve is struggling to adjust to her empty nest when one night her phone lights up with a text message. Sent from an anonymous number, the mysterious sender tells Eve, “U R my MILF!” Over the months that follow, that message comes to obsess Eve. While leading her all-too-placid life—serving as Executive Director of the local senior center by day and taking a community college course on Gender and Society at night—Eve can’t curtail her own interest in a porn website called MILFateria.com, which features the erotic exploits of ordinary, middle-aged women like herself. Before long, Eve’s online fixations begin to spill over into real life, revealing new romantic possibilities that threaten to upend her quiet suburban existence.

Meanwhile, miles away at the state college, Eve’s son Brendan—a jock and aspiring frat boy—discovers that his new campus isn’t nearly as welcoming to his hard-partying lifestyle as he had imagined. Only a few weeks into his freshman year, Brendan is floundering in a college environment that challenges his white-dude privilege and shames him for his outmoded, chauvinistic ideas of sex. As the New England autumn turns cold, both mother and son find themselves enmeshed in morally fraught situations that come to a head on one fateful November night.

Sharp, witty, and provocative, Mrs. Fletcher is a timeless examination of sexuality, identity, parenthood, and the big clarifying mistakes people can make when they’re no longer sure of who they are or where they belong.

Editorial Review

An Amazon Best Book of August 2017: Tom Perrotta’s latest is about a recent empty nester, struggling with this alien status and desperate for a distraction, when a very saucy one is served-up anonymously on her phone. No, it's not a message from Anthony Weiner, but it is something that piques Mrs. Fletcher's interest to such a degree that she becomes obsessed with a certain "adult site" and suddenly her sleepy suburban existence is sleepy no more. Meanwhile her son, whose clueless moments of Neanderthalism are proving a liability with the college ladies, is trying to find his footing in life too. Right off the bat you know that Mrs. Fletcher is going to veer into awkward territory, and it does have its cringe-worthy moments (which I think Perrotta inflicts with glee). But these characters are so expertly drawn that it’s easy to relate to, and sympathize with, their bumbling attempts at working through existential crises (unintentionally hilarious, and even shocking these efforts may be). The secondary characters are just as strong, and refreshingly unexpected. When Mrs. Fletcher’s ex-husband is introduced, you find out that he left her for a younger model he courted on Craigslist, and you think...Of course! But he’s actually not what you think at all, nor is his new wife. These are ordinary people making life-changing mistakes at a time when they should be (mostly) grown up. That’s the thing, though--no matter where we are in life--we always have growing to do...Perrotta, ever the provocateur, ties up a narrative loose end by creating yet another in the end. It’s something that will needle at you, in an uncomfortably good way. Such is Mrs. Fletcher. --Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review

Excerpt

No Excerpt Currently Available

Discussion Questions

No discussion questions at this time.

Weblinks

There are no web links at this time.

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 1 members.

Member Reviews

Rate this book