Lost in the Garden

Michael Benedict, overprivileged but undermotivated, seems to have it all: a beautiful wife, two lovely daughters, a law practice that provides a comfortable life for his family, and a natural golf swing. Can it all unravel in a few short months?

As he did in his debut, Dear Zoe, Philip Beard has created a pitch-perfect narrator who ruefully and winningly pulls the reader into the confusing world that is his life. When his wife announces she s pregnant, at age forty, with a "surprise" baby, Michael s underwhelming response disturbs the fault lines of both his marriage and his psyche. He tries to find solace in his obsessions: his golf game, his newfound luck in the stock market, and, since his wife has cut him off, some kind of sex that isn t exactly extramarital.

Like Tom Perrotta and Nick Hornby, Philip Beard writes insightfully, movingly, and with the lightest touch about the messiness of life. Anyone who wakes up some mornings feeling life is still a work in progress will find this the perfect summer read.