Trophy Life by Lea Geller

Trophy Life

by Lea Geller

A refreshingly honest, laugh-out-loud novel about losing the life you always wanted…and finding the life you were meant to have.

For the last ten years, Agnes Parsons’s biggest challenge has been juggling yoga classes and lunch dates. Her Santa Monica house staff takes care of everything, leaving Agnes to focus on her trophy-wife responsibilities: look perfect, adore her older husband, and wear terribly expensive (if uncomfortable) underwear.

When her husband disappears, leaving Agnes and their infant daughter with no money, no home, and no staff, she is forced to move across the country, where she lands a job teaching at an all-boys boarding school in the Bronx. So long, organic quinoa bowls and sunshine-filled California life. Hello, processed food, pest-infested house, and twelve-year-old-boy humor—all day, every day.

But it’s in this place of second chances (and giant bugs), where Agnes is unexpectedly forced to take care of herself and her daughter, where she finds out the kind of woman she can be. Ultimately, she has to decide if she prefers the woman and mother she has become—or the trophy life she left behind.

Authentic and sharply witty, Trophy Life is proof that granny panties and mom coats might not be the answer to everything; they’re simply comfortable (if slightly unattractive) reminders of what happens when one life ends…and real life begins.

Reviewed by Jeff Sexton on

5 of 5 stars

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What Is A Trophy? In this tale by debut author Lea Geller, we get an interesting tale of an orphan who seemingly wins the jackpot while working as a preschool teacher after college - she randomly meets and marries an older wealthy man and through him obtains a life of ease. Maybe too easy. But as is to be expected somewhat, things are not as they seem and our new mom is sent across the country. Along the way, she finds herself and rediscovers just how strong she truly is. Overall a solid story with a few interesting twists, and I look forward to seeing more from this author.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 20 April, 2019: Finished reading
  • 20 April, 2019: Reviewed