The Rest of Our Lives with Ben Markovits

We are thrilled to welcome author Ben Markovits to Mr B’s to discuss his latest novel, The Rest of Our Lives.

The Rest of Our Lives is an incredibly moving road trip of a novel about getting older, the challenges and rewards of long-term marriage, and the reality of what’s really left when your kids grow up and leave home. If you enjoyed Nathan Hill’s Wellness, Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman is in Trouble, or Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies then this is the book for you!

Ben Markovits was named one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists in 2013, and has published seven novels including A Weekend in New York, You Don’t Have to Live Like This and, most recently, The Sidekick (a Team B favourite!).

About the book:

A hugely emotive and quietly exhilarating novel about family, marriage and those moments which can define our lives.

What’s left when your kids grow up and leave home?

When Tom Layward’s wife had an affair he resolved to leave her as soon as his youngest daughter turned eighteen. Twelve years later, while driving her to Pittsburgh to start university, he remembers his pact.

He is also on the run from his own health issues, and the fact that he’s been put on leave at work after students complained about the politics of his law class – something he hasn’t yet told his wife. So, after dropping Miriam off, he keeps driving, with the vague plan of visiting various people from his past – an old college friend, his ex-girlfriend, his brother, his son – on route, maybe, to his father’s grave in California.

‘A perfect contemporary take on the American road-trip novel.’ – Lucy Caldwell

‘Completely involving and so funny, wise and knowing.’ – Clare Chambers

‘What an excellent novel about the rich, accumulated layers of marriage. The fissures and precious moments, the embedded resentments and tenderness in the relationship of Tom and Amy, it all forms such a real and complex portrait.’ – Sarah Hall