The Divorce Papers

by Susan Rieger

Sparkling and sophisticated, this sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking debut novel tells the story of a very messy, very high-profile divorce and the endearingly cynical young lawyer dragooned into handling it.
 
Twenty-nine-year-old Sophie Diehl is happy toiling away as a criminal law associate at an old-line New England firm, where she very much appreciates that most of her clients are trapped behind bars. Everyone at Traynor, Hand knows she abhors face-to-face contact, but one week, with all the big partners out of town, Sophie is stuck handling the intake interview for the daughter of the firm’s most important client.
 
After eighteen years of marriage, Mayflower descendant Mia Meiklejohn Durkheim has just been served divorce papers in a humiliating scene at the popular local restaurant, Golightly’s. Mia is now locked and loaded to fight her eminent and ambitious husband, Dr. Daniel Durkheim, Chief of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Mather Medical School, for custody of their ten-year-old daughter Jane. Mia also burns to take him down a peg. Sophie warns Mia that she’s never handled a divorce case before, but Mia can’t be put off. The way she sees it, it’s her first divorce, too. For Sophie, the whole affair will spark a hard look at her own relationships—with her parents, colleagues, friends, lovers, and, most important, herself.
 
A rich, layered novel told entirely through personal correspondence, office memos, e-mails, articles, handwritten notes, and legal documents, The Divorce Papers offers a direct window into the lives of an entertaining cast of characters never shy about speaking their minds. Original and captivating, Susan Rieger’s brilliantly conceived and expertly crafted debut races along with wit, heartache, and exceptional comedic timing, as it explores the complicated family dynamic that results when marriage fails—as well as the ever-present risks and coveted rewards of that thing called love.

• ISBN13: 9780804137447
• Publish Date: 18 March 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 9 May 2017
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Crown Business
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 496
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

When I was accepted on Netgalley for a novel called The Divorce Papers, I was so pleased! With its pink cover it looks like such a pretty book and I was so looking forward to reading it. I didn’t meant to start it right away; but after flicking through my Kindle and seeing which novel would grab me first, it turned out that it was this one. The letters at the beginning of the novel really do draw you in and you’re desperate to figure out who is who. I definitely think The Divorce Papers will be one of the bigger debuts of 2014 because it’s brilliant!

I’m a massive fan of epistolary novels. Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern is fabulous. So once I realised The Divorce Papers was written in the same way I was so pleased! They’re such a rarity but when done right they’re pretty amazing, and this one is definitely amazing. I’ll admit that it was a hard novel to read on my kindle; it wasn’t formatted properly not like it would be as an actual book, so if you are going to read this book you must buy a physical copy until Kindle come up with a way to help with the formatting. I’ll certainly be purchasing a physical copy to read again, the way it was meant I be read.

The Divorce Papers is actually a really clever novel. It basically chronicles a divorce using letters, emails, and official documentation. It works SO well, too. You really get a feel for what a divorce is like; what kind of toll it takes on all involved, how it effects more than just the couple divorcing. Obviously with the way the novel is written it isn’t massively character based, but I actually thought that the characters really came to life for me. Mia blew me away. She was far and away the funniest, smartest, wickedest character and I’d have loved to have read an entire book just about her thoughts on anything and everything.

That’s not to say Sophie, the main protagonist isn’t interesting. I loved her naïveté when it came to divorces, I loved her witty emails between herself and David, her boss, and her emails to Mia, but mostly it was her emails to the opposition that made me laugh because she was just so gung-ho. This book just has me hooked from start to finished, I learned more about divorces than I’ll ever need to know and I loved all the official documentation that most would probably say is dull. I am so looking forward to reading this novel again as it’s meant to be read. Susan is a wonderfully talented storyteller and this is easily the best novel I’ll ever read about a divorce! A truly fabulous, stunning debut!