Synopsis: Slender, potent, and utterly engaging, I Married You For Happiness combines marriage, mathematics, and the probability of an afterlife to create Tuck's most affecting and riveting book yet.
“His hand is growing cold, still she holds it” is how this novel that tells the story of a marriage begins. The tale unfolds over a single night as Nina sits at the bedside of her husband, Philip, whose sudden and unexpected death is the reason for her lonely vigil. Still too shocked to grieve, she lets herself remember the defining moments of their long union, beginning with their meeting in Paris. She is an artist, he a highly accomplished mathematician—a collision of two different worlds that merged to form an intricate and passionate love. As we move through select memories—real and imagined—Tuck reveals the most private intimacies, dark secrets, and overwhelming joys that defined Nina and Philip's life together.
Type: Fiction/Novella
Quick Take: This book pulled me in immediately. Nina's husband dies suddenly and she spends one last night alone with him and years of memories. Telling their daughter makes Philip's death real and Nina is not be ready, yet.
This book is just under 200 pages long and packs a punch. The memories span over 40 years of marriage, from meeting each other to the birth of their daughter, from lovers/affairs to tender memories. I read this book in just two sittings. I loved every minute of it, until the last page. There's nothing wrong with the ending... just that I had already build an alternative ending to end the story in my head.
I'm so glad the cover of the book didn't sway me from reading it (I still don't understand the cover). Have you read it? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: NetGalley