The Divorce Papers

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.

From the Hardcover edition.

"Fresh and lively... Smart and wonderfully entertaining... The power and canniness of this bittersweet work of epistolary fiction pulls you along... [T]his portrait of a divorce makes for serious, yet charming, entertainment... A dramatic intertwining of the law and human feelings." - Alan Cheuse

"Ingenious setup and voyeuristic pleasures... Rieger excavates the humor and humanity from a most bitter uncoupling." - Emily Giffin