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Gigi Levangie Grazer, author of The Starter Wife, has a new novel out now: The After Wife. It tells the story of reality producer Hannah who loses her husband in a hit and run accident. She must rely on her goofy group of friends to help her navigate her grief, while at the same time she gains the ability to talk to the dead.
It doesn't exactly scream 'this is a funny book', but it is. Grazer skewers the Hollywood lifestyle, though the book is set in Santa Monica, and she manages to take the reader from tears to laughter in the space of a few pages.
Hannah's husband John was a chef, so there are a few good food related excerpts, including this one:
"On Saturday mornings, John liked to be at the Farmer's Market on the Third Street Promenade early- before the regular customers, the crowds, the crazies- to show off Ellie to his old chef buddies, smell the fresh produce, bag some grapes, pears, figs, haggle over the price of bison, down oysters perfumed by the Pacific, and grab an espresso.
We'd be eating something amazing tonight. Something with figs. Figs, a brown sauce, a roast guinea hen? Of course, we usually ate something amazing for dinner- even if it were a simple, perfect omelet."I read this book on my Kindle while on the treadmill, and several times I burst out into laughter, causing people in the gym to look funny at me. Grazer's book was so good that I stayed on the treadmill longer than usual. (And no, Gigi, I did not fall off, I was very careful.)
I will post a full review of this delightful novel soon. Here is a link to Gigi's website for The After Wife.
