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Two parents. Happily married. Just not to each other.

When Cora meets Sam at a baby group in their small town, the chemistry between them is instant and undeniable. But both are happily married, and neither is the type to cheat. So as their lives intertwine and the romantic tension between them heightens, Cora turns to her imagination: in her head, she and Sam pursue their feelings; in reality, they resist.

Yet as the fantasy affair grows ever more intoxicating, it can't help but cast Cora's everyday life - the mushroom problem in the bathroom, her daughter's new fascination with the afterlife, her husband's obsession with podcasts about the history of rope - in a new light. And when the boundaries grow increasingly blurred, she must decide what truly matters.

'Somers's wit is as cool, caustic and dry as liquid nitrogen' TONY TULATHIMUTTE
'Hilarious' BRANDON TAYLOR
'Compulsively readable' JULIA MAY JONAS

"Sociologically acute and slyly entertaining . . . Somers's crisp writing makes for a humane, frequently funny and very readable novel that captures something not just about how we live now, but about choices, compromises, sacrifice, being a parent, getting older" - * New York Times Book Review *

"Somers explores ideas of monogamy, motherhood and modern living in the vein of Miranda July's All Fours or Julia May Jonas's Vladimir" - * New York Times *

"The midlife adultery story our entire generation deserves . . . I loved this razor-sharp, hilarious, finely observed novel, written with such withering exactitude. It is absolutely aware of itself, spare and brimming with subtext" - * Guardian *

"Somers cleverly laces big existential questions into the story...and offers us generous lashings of wry humour too" - * Times *

"The Ten Year Affair is a cross between the mid-century infidelity fiction of John Updike, Richard Yates and John Cheever, which explored middle-class ennui, and the 1980s domestic novels of Laurie Colwin . . . Under the guise of comedy, it poses potent societal questions about modern marriage and gender roles" - * Financial Times *

"Intoxicating" - * New Yorker *

"

Hypnotic, human and beautifully written with some excellent comic moments

"One of the shrewdest observational comics of her generation" - * ELLE *

"Hugely enjoyable" - * New Statesman *

"I read this book in January and declared it my favourite book of the year. It's summer now, and I stand by my declaration. I loved this funny tale of ageing millennials, the claustrophobia and acute discomfort of early parenthood and the increasing allure of the path not taken. If that doesn't sound like a good time to you, then I don't know what is" - * Stylist *

"Somers' approach to the affair is twice-refreshing - her masterful weaving of the imaginary with the real manages to juggle the banality of fantasy with scenes that are sexy or subversive . . . Somers' cool, intricate ode to millennial malaise satirises the roles her generation tried - and failed - to outgrow" - * Kirkus *

"A wry and ingenious tale of marital infidelity. Somers offers a sardonic view into the pressures of marriage and motherhood and the ambient temptation of adultery . . . Readers will find this hard to put down" - * Publishers Weekly *