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From one of the most popular and bestselling authors of our time, a penetrating and hilarious new novel about sex, love, and identity on the frontlines of America’s culture wars.
Eve Fletcher is trying to figure out what comes next. A forty-six-year-old divorcee whose beloved only child has just left for college, Eve is struggling to adjust to her empty nest when one night her phone lights up with a text message. Sent from an anonymous number, the mysterious sender tells Eve, “U R my MILF!” Over the months that follow, that message comes to obsess Eve. While leading her all-too-placid life—serving as Executive Director of the local senior center by day and taking a community college course on Gender and Society at night—Eve can’t curtail her own interest in a porn website called MILFateria.com, which features the erotic exploits of ordinary, middle-aged women like herself. Before long, Eve’s online fixations begin to spill over into real life, revealing new romantic possibilities that threaten to upend her quiet suburban existence.
Meanwhile, miles away at the state college, Eve’s son Brendan—a jock and aspiring frat boy—discovers that his new campus isn’t nearly as welcoming to his hard-partying lifestyle as he had imagined. Only a few weeks into his freshman year, Brendan is floundering in a college environment that challenges his white-dude privilege and shames him for his outmoded, chauvinistic ideas of sex. As the New England autumn turns cold, both mother and son find themselves enmeshed in morally fraught situations that come to a head on one fateful November night.
Sharp, witty, and provocative, Mrs. Fletcher is a timeless examination of sexuality, identity, parenthood, and the big clarifying mistakes people can make when they’re no longer sure of who they are or where they belong.
Select Reviews
“The sweetest and most charming novel about pornography addiction and the harrowing issues of sexual consent that you will probably ever read. . . . Perrotta steers through this miry slough with skill, sensitivity and good-natured confidence.” —The New York Times Book Review (cover review)
“From his breakthrough comic novel Election through the HBO adaptation of The Leftovers and now Mrs. Fletcher, Perrotta has become our most reliable chronicler of the contemporary American marriage.”—L.A. Times
“Raunchy, hilarious and unexpectedly sweet. . . . Mrs. Fletcher is one for the ages.” —NPR
“[Mrs. Fletcher] is an almost anthropological study of the widespread sexual confusion that defines this cultural moment. . . . At times morbidly funny and, at others, grim, Mrs. Fletcher signals a return to familiar territory for Mr. Perrotta — sex, school and suburbia.” —The New York Times
“In examining the national interest by way of dinner-table conversation, Perrotta has created some of the most memorably human drama of his era. His new novel, Mrs. Fletcher, about a mother and son, is the latest example. . . . It will spark plenty of conversations.” —Time
“Mrs. Fletcher is a wry, compassionate novel about the ramifications of porn filtering so effortlessly into mainstream culture, without hysteria or accusations.” —The Atlantic
“[Perrotta] is an expert at teasing out particular strains of suburban ennui.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Books that try to talk about sex and technology often fall flatter than a Match.com ad. Happily, I can report Mrs. Fletcher is the rare exception.” —GQ
“The cast of hyper-realistic and fine-tuned characters together paint a portrait of modern life that accounts for the complications–and not just conveniences–afforded by advances from the digital to the sociocultural.” —Harper’s Bazaar
“Light, zingy, and laugh-out-loud funny.” —People
“The sinews of Perrotta’s fiction . . . are the tensions within and between characters, tensions that he steadily and artfully amplifies until the reader becomes possessed by curiosity about how they’ll be resolved.” —New Yorker
“A terrifically fast and frequently funny read that serves as a forensic investigation into America’s browser-cache-clearing habits.” —Village Voice
“In this shimmeringly satisfying novel, Perrotta uses the sense of loneliness like a propeller, raising these characters into glorious flight if they can just let themselves trust that they have wings.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“I can think of no other novel that so expertly illuminates that empty, middle-aged feeling when even marital bitterness and filial pride fails us.” —Boston Globe
“Satisfying, wise and deeply appealing.” —Chicago Tribune
“Perrotta, a writer of an unusually generous spirit, lets each person in his books shine in their own light. Their actions may not always be admirable, but we’re given the tools to understand them; they seem complex and well-meaning and utterly real.” —Seattle Times
“Perrotta demonstrates his keen ability to channel varying perspectives. His ear for dialogue, as always, is pitch-perfect.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Perrotta is a wonderful writer, and his work reflects his skillful plotting and wry wit.” —New Jersey Star-Ledger
“The witty Perrotta is an outstanding satirist of modern American suburbia.” —Miami Herald
“Eve Fletcher—40-something divorcée, empty nester and MILF to a secret admirer—is one of Perrotta’s most memorable characters yet.” —Bookpage
“I love Perrotta’s ability to blend an absorbing narrative with incisive social observations, with hilarious results. . . . Absolutely enjoyable and spot-on.” —Library Journal
“Perrotta’s eye for contemporary mores and social details remains razor-sharp; his portraits of the substantial supporting cast are equally keen and tempered with compassion. . . . More spot-on satire with heart and soul from a uniquely gifted writer.” —Kirkus Reviews
“From the thrill of learning of its existence, to the feverish turning of pages, to the contemplative afterglow that comes from having finished: there’s nothing like a new Tom Perrotta novel. Mrs. Fletcher is all you dream it will be: hilarious, provocative (a little too), relatable, and every moment a joy ride.” —Maria Semple, bestselling author of Today Will Be Different
“Tom Perrotta has always been a smart, fearless writer, a wet-your-pants-funny satirist who will in the very next sentence ambush you with genuine emotion. Buckle your seat belt and surrender your dignity, because Mrs. Fletcher is a romp.” —Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls