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A hilariously acerbic sliding doors novel about a chance meeting between two young parents, both happily married (just not to each other) that sparks a will-they-won’t-they romance—perfect for fans of Big Swiss and Acts of Service.
When Cora meets Sam at a baby group in their small town, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Both are happily married young parents with two kids, and neither sees themselves as the type to engage in an affair. Yet their connection grows stronger, and as their lives continue to intertwine, the romantic tension between them becomes all-consuming—until their worlds unravel into two parallel timelines. In one, they pursue their feelings. In the other, they resist.
As reality splits, the everyday details of Cora’s life—her depressing marketing job, her daughter’s new fascination with the afterlife, her husband’s obsession with podcasts about the history of rope—gain fresh perspective. The intersecting and diverging timelines blur the boundaries of reality and fantasy, questioning what might have been and what truly matters.
"Two young parents meet-cute at a Hudson Valley baby group. Unfortunately, they’re both married to other people. What comes next is not in fact a 10-year affair, but something trickier — a dual story line in which Somers explores ideas of monogamy, motherhood and modern living in the vein of Miranda July’s All Fours or Julia May Jonas’s Vladimir."
The New York Times
"Cora meets Sam, a new dad, at a baby group held in the back of an overpriced children's clothing store, bonding with him over their shared distaste for the intensity of their aspirational cohort. Their fiery flirtation reignites a passion that was snuffed out by the daily demands of work and family. Should they act on their attraction or not? Somers explores both scenarios. In one world, well-intentioned Sam and Cora befriend each other's spouses and raise their children while coping with the stressors of modern suburban life. In another, they sneak away for illicit encounters, where her hair always looks better and the rough edges of life are smoothed out. As the timelines diverge and dovetail, Cora grapples wih the consequences of living as though a better world seems always out of reach."
The Washington Post
"Somers offers a wry and ingenious tale of marital infidelity...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 (starred)
"An impeccable, ultra-dry, sometimes mocking examination of young middle age."
W Magazine
"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 satirizes the roles her generation tried—and failed—to outgrow."
Kirkus
"Somers’s novel, set in the Hudson Valley, is full of ex–New Yorkers who fled the city to live in “nature.” Cora, a young mother, meets Sam—another married parent—at her local baby group. Their undeniable chemistry splits the novel into separate timelines: a reality of romantic tension and an elaborate fantasy where they begin an affair. As the timelines interweave, Somers renders a portrait of millennial parenthood, aging, nostalgia, and regret that captures the texture of life with incredible, aching precision."
Orion Magazine
"Somers explores the fantasy and reality of an affair simultaneously in a masterful sophomore novel that is as scathingly critical of millennial malaise as it is empathetic. At its heart, this book believes in love."
Bustle
A beautiful book about selfhood amidst dependency. About how boring it can feel to get what you want. And about what love really means: the weight of it, the choosing of it.
Literary Hub
"Funny, sexy, depressing, and realistic . . . . Somers' observational style and deadpan comedy make Cora's mess both relatable and unenviable as she navigates the subtle madness of marital commitment, the alienation of motherhood, and the absurdity of life in general."
Booklist
"Somers balances the witty takes with profound introspection on the nature of commitment and longing, guaranteeing there will soon be countless readers "currently loving" The Ten Year Affair."
Shelf Awareness
"The Ten Year Affair isn't just the best book about adultery since Madame Bovary; it's also a funny and deeply true novel about the role of the imagination in human existence, those banal longterm daydreams that compete with your life while helping you cope with it. Erin Somers's wit is as cool, caustic, and dry as liquid nitrogen, and her dangerous talent is on full display in this excellent book."
Tony Tulathimutte, author of Rejection
"The Ten Year Affair is a hilarious and acutely observed account of early middle life. Somers writes with warmth, wit, and shimmering insight about the failings and strivings of decent people who wake up and find that life isn’t quite working out. No other writer at work today is as alert to the comedy of everyday life and to the extraordinary realms of feeling that lie behind that comedy. I never wanted this novel to end. I loved every moment. Somers has written a classic of our era."
Brandon Taylor, author of The Late Americans and Filthy Animals
"A compulsively readable, surprising, and wholly satisfying story of the way we long, now. Told with inexhaustible wit, Somers's novel is packed full of observations and flights of imagination so perfect in their particulars that their accumulation becomes luminous."
Julia May Jonas, author of Vladimir
"Smart, sharp, and incredibly funny, Erin Somers' The Ten Year Affair explores the slippery complicated space of fidelity, parenthood, and marriage. How do we continue to choose to love the people we have chosen, to not feel trapped inside those choices? Where and what are we reaching for when we reach outside them, and what is it that makes both staying and leaving so thrilling and so terrifying in equal parts? I loved this book for its deftness, humor, and its remarkable acuity."
Lynn Steger Strong, author of Flight
When June Bloom, an assistant on the late-night comedy show, Stay Up with Hugo Best, runs into Hugo himself at an open mic following his unexpected retirement, she finds herself fielding a surprising invitation: Hugo asks June to come to his mansion in Greenwich for the long Memorial Day weekend. “No funny business,” he insists. “Incisive, funny, and tinged with melancholy, this timely novel follows two lost but clever souls desperate for connection” (Entertainment Weekly).
June, in need of a job and money, but harboring the remains of a childhood crush on the charming older comedian and former role model, is confident she can handle herself. She accepts. As the weekend unfolds and the enigmatic Hugo gradually reveals appealingly vulnerable facets to his personality, their dynamic proves to be much more complicated and less predictable than June imagined.
“A zippy debut…June’s quick wit keeps the banter flowing over a bizarre Memorial Day weekend…the millennial and the magnetic celebrity are surprisingly well suited, two sardonic souls who find themselves connecting…magnificent…a devilishly fun ride.”
Vogue
“Incisive, funny, and tinged with melancholy, the timely novel follows two lost but clever souls desperate for connection.”
Entertainment Weekly
“Taut and incisive... tender... Somers is clear—exquisitely, wrenchingly—when articulating Bloom’s lifelong fixation on Best.”
New York Times Book Review
“On the surface, Somers' debut is light and breezy, but the narrative is deft, controlled, and deadly smart. She mines depths out of Hollywood's propensity to look the other way when beloved men behave badly without a hint of preachiness. Instead, she's interested in complicity... What could be a straightforward novel about a young woman and an older man taking mutual advantage of one another is instead a brilliant study in how rarely we seize opportunities to grow and change for the better—especially if we're lucky enough to get more than one. An outstanding comedic debut about the deeply unfunny trials of growing up in and out of the spotlight. Somers is a writer to watch.”
Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"Stay Up With Hugo Best is a book that is also described as 'the perfect read for the #MeToo era,' but that isn’t just a platitude. The novel follows June, a junior staffer at a late-night TV show, who goes home with the much-older host of said show. You may think you know what happens next, but the novel doesn’t follow the sleazy old man plus naive ingenue playbook. It gives the agency to its rightful owner, a young woman stumbling into adulthood who must navigate an awkward weekend with her boss. Praised for its insider details of the world of late-night television, Stay Up With Hugo Best is a witty and subtle commentary on sex, power, and social politics."
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