A Married Man

by Catherine Alliott

Indulge in this wonderfully warm and witty story of love, loss and laughter from the bestselling author of A Cornish Summer and A Rural Affair'What could be nicer than living in the country'Lucy Fellowes is in a bind. She's a widow living in a pokey London flat with two small boys and an erratic income. But when her mother-in-law offers her a converted barn on the family's estate - she knows it's a brilliant opportunity for her and the kids.But there's a problem. The estate is a shrine to Lucy's dead husband Ned. The whole family has been unable to get over his death. If she's honest, the whole family is far from normal. And if Lucy is to accept this offer she'll be putting herself completely in their incapable hands. Which leads to Lucy's other problem. Charlie - the only man since Ned who she's had any feelings for - lives nearby. The problem He's already married . . .Praise for Catherine joy . . . you're in for a treat' Daily Express'I literally couldn't put this down. An addictive cocktail of wit, frivolity and madcap romance' Time Out

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Womens Fiction, British Literature

608 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Catherine has sold over 3 million bestselling novels worldwide and is translated into eighteen languages.

The first of these novels Catherine started under the desk when she worked as an advertising copywriter. She was duly fired. With time on her hands, she persevered with the novels, which happily flourished.

In the early days she produced a baby with each book - but after three - stuck to the writing as it was less painful.

She writes with her favorite pen in note books, either in the garden or on a sofa.

Home is a rural spot on the Hertfordshire border, which she shares with her family and a menagerie of horses, cows, chickens, and dogs, which at the last count totaled eighty-seven beating hearts, including her husband. Some of her household have walk-on parts in her novels, but only the chickens would probably recognize themselves.

All her novels are published by Penguin Random House internationally, and by No Shooz Publishing in America and will be available in the US in the Fall of 2017.

Reviews

[Merryb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book.
The characters are a parade of grossly exaggerated and at the same time shallow caricatures. We have manipulative Rose, lecherous Archie, gin swilling Lavinia, drippy Hector and a couple of batty aunts too, all acting in ways which are totally unrealistic. The plot too is totally implausible and at the same time contains huge inconsistencies. (Just try and work out how old Lucy is).
We are asked to believe that the intelligent Oxford-educated thirty-something Lucy with two young children would sell up her Chelsea flat to go and live with her inlaws who she despises and hasnt seen for years, in pursuit of a man she has only spoken to a couple of times. She does this without bothering to travel the short distance to check it out first. She apparently doesnt know the difference between impotence and infertility or between paracetemol and nurofen. In spite of blaming herself for her beloved husbands death in a car accident, she drives around the country lanes like a maniac, often fuelled with alcohol. She seems unable to stop her car without "screeching to a halt". Phrases like "his eyes were like pools of melted chocolate" are pure Mills and Boon. And how about "green leafy foliage" and "a honeysuckle encrusted window ledge". There is this sort of irritating rubbish on every page.
If I could give less than 1 star I would.
Dont waste your time with this book

[Danielle McGregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5*

I struggled to rate this book because, for me, it wasn’t until page 160 that it became really interesting. The front cover markets it as a naughty love story but there is a lot of back story that you need to be willing to invest in ...

Jack’s complication was obvious quite early on but it was nice waiting for it to unfold. It didn’t annoy me that I knew what the outcome of the story would be.

A reasonably enjoyable read - especially if you are a romance lover!

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay this book was very slow at the beginning, but the last 100 pages or so were amazing. i finally saw the characters developing and there was finally a plot to follow. i wanted to love this book so bad, but it had a good ending.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Alliot's work and I'm not sure how I found her! She writes chick lit, so it's not very "literary", but I enjoy her writing style immensely. She's english, so I'm predisposed to her style already, contemporary, humourous - if you are fan of Marian Keyes book, then you'll like it. I like her writing far better than Sophie Kinsella's books.

[Lauren Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. It was slow to start but eventually I just couldn’t put it down. It was a great read from a great author!

[Jane Frenzel · Rating 1 out of 5]

108 pages in and I just can’t get into this book! The lead character is a hot mess…. The married man is just someone she bumps into on purpose but he show no interest in her yet. Not wasting more time on this book.

[Ivana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's kind of hard to write anything about this book. Because I didn't hate it, there were parts I really liked, and found well written and interesting. But then there were parts were I was sooo annoyed by it, it made me almost drop the book and not torture myself anymore. My biggest problem with the book was ... I liked every other character more than the main character. I personally have to relate with the main character, feel sth. for her in order to truly get into a certain book. Here, mostly I was just annoyed with Lucy. I felt bad for what she had gone through, but still I didn't see her a positive character, I didn't like her relationship with her children at all. That was the biggest minus in my book.

And funny enough, although they are made to be portrayed as the "bad guys" I liked the colorful Fellows family. They made the book for me, more than Lucy did. They were interesting and they had some life in them. And they represent a picture of the " old money" families in the UK perfectly.


The book worth quickly going through, but not reading more than once.

[Nina Draganova · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020
Едва ли има нещо , което да не съм казала за тези книги. Добре , че ги има и ме спасяват от заобикалящата ни лудост.
2017
Толкова добре ми е, когато пренеса духа си в идилично описаната английска природа.
Понякога докато чета , използвам съвременните технологии и намирам описаните места , за да усетя в детайли, това за което става дума.
Разбира се , на пръв поглед "лековатите" и забавни книги на Катрин Елиът , поставят много сериозни проблеми .
Не прави изключение и тази нейна книга, която редува смях със сълзи.
Такива колоритни герои и случки, описани забележително от майсторското й перо.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually liked this book. I chose it because of the title. I was curious to get another person's take on what it is that makes some women go for married men and what it is that makes some married men stray. At the end of the day, it's the same thing isn't it..people's selfish desires. Wanting what you can't have and making excuses for it. Still I found this single parent's attempts at conducting an affair to be so amusing.

[Redfox5 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a slow start, the whole book could have done with being slightly shorter but the second half of the book more than makes up for it. Lucy is the kind of character where you want to hold your head in your hands and say "did she just do that!? yes, yes she did". This book made me laugh out loud, and the plot does evolve throughout the book. It's not about 'A Married Man' as much as you think it would be, given the books title. One for chick-lit fans.

[LilBib’Phile · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although this book started out cute, the heroine quickly became irritating, with hardly one likeable thing about her. The dialogue seemed very self-consciously British, with words like"sodding" and"bloody" on every page. Lucy also seemed to have a terrible relationship with her children.
I would not even have finished this book, but I was on an airplane and it was the only thing I had.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining chick lit about a young widow trying to rebuild her life; worthy of 3 1/2 stars due to some original plot twists.

[Doris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stopped at chapter 11. Couldn't finish it. Something about it.....just too complicated to read on.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

After 100 or so pages I've given up. Life is too short to read a book you're not enjoying.

[Isaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

its a book for your posh grandma or mother in law, and i read it, ug!

[Anne Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this one but sadly it didn't live up to expectation. It seems poorly written and the heroine Lucy isn't really that likeable. The man she's madly in love with speaks as if he's in a Mills & Boon story and, given the chance, is liable to emote in a highly unlikely way as to how much he adores her. There's not a lot of story for the first three quarters of the book and then suddenly in the last quarter, absolutely everything happens! At this point it reminded me of an episode of Dallas from the 1970s - burning houses! Evil mother-in-law! Someone's father not being who they ought to be! Child neglect allegations! I was really quite exhausted by it all, and rather glad when I reached the highly unlikely end. That said, there are one or two really key and movingly written scenes scattered throughout the book, and I wish there had been more of these, as that sort of writing would have made for a far better novel.

[Cee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book ages ago. While packing I thought I would re-read it and then donate it because I didn't remember the story, but remembered enjoying it. So, I read it. Just finished. Although partway through I remembered a couple of small details, I really enjoyed it. Better than just an ordinary beach read. Also an interesting time capsule, back when we had cell phones but before smartphones.

The funny thing is that I didn't like the protagonist much. I didn't like her lying and the weird stalker behavior, nor the terrible way she parented. It wasn't as bad as the MIL made it sound, but it was bad. It was a bit lackadaisical parenting, at best. But the ending, when finally some flat characters were given depth, and the statements of love were heartwarming.

[Julie Kendrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typically good Catherine Alliott book. I always expect a great read and I’m never disappointed.
This one has lots of twists and turns with characters you love and ones you hate. The story races along and although this is one of her longer books it doesn’t get boring or slow for a minute.
There is only one slight criticism I have and that is that I think she has put the children’s ages far too young. For the conversations they have and the vocabulary they use I would add a good 5 years on to each child. I don’t think it would spoil the story and would make them more believable.
Bring on the next book - I can’t wait.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucy is a widow with 2 young boys, living in a flat in London. Her late husband was estranged from his family, so imagine her surprise when her mother in law wants to set her up on the family estate near Oxford and pay fr everything including the boys schooling. Lucy decides t go
Lucy fancies a man se has seen in London but discovers he lives near where she is going, he's married but according to him unhappily.....
Things aren't as they seem in her new home, ma in law has changed not as friendly as first seemed which leads to a catastrophic accident, which gets blamed on Lucy but then turns out it wasn't her fault, but who's was it.....

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this a lot more than I thought I would. I was afraid it would just be a soppy romance trying to justify extramarital affairs in the name of love but it's not at all. The main character, Lucy, is one of the most relatable and unlikeable characters I've ever read. I eagerly wanted things to not work out for her because she's the worst and I got a lot of joy out of seeing her life fall to shambles as a result of many poor decisions. This book had me laughing through the whole plot and had so many unexpected twists. I couldn't put it down. This was a great book!

[AL · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a veeeerrrrry slow start for me. I don’t usually read blurbs and I didn’t pick this book up based on any but before reading, I did note that it was supposedly hysterical. I don’t think I’d qualify it as much of a comedy.

The romance began to hook me as I was drawn by Charlie’s depiction of his wife. As the story came on, I was shocked to unfold a bit of a thriller! And the ending came in quick, with the characters sort of spinning this perfect end … and complete chaos and without addressing, well, any of it!

The last half of the book was certainly intriguing!

[Mrs Book Pond (Anna-Lena) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alliott is relatively unknown in Sweden, but to me she's become a reliable feelgood-supplier. A married man is not her best to date and in some ways she shamelessly copies her own book Rosie Meadows regrets (which is one of her best). I am not too fond of Lucy, who is supposed to be 30 something, but comes across as about 17. Still, overall A married man is entertaining, romantic and funny and I did enjoy it.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled across this writer by chance and I just loved this book. It was a little slow at the beginning but I think the pace worked well.
It seemed filled with every imaginable emotion but blended the highs and lows well. Sometimes sad others out loud laughing.
I really enjoyed the writing and the story. Thankfully the story had a conclusion that was one that worked for me.
I will be reading Catherine again.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think there is a defense for a mn having an affair or a woman willing to become involved with a married man. This is a painfully slow read. i kept losing interest and then the book woud pick up, only to drag again. My take away from the book is that it takes a lot of selfishness and self centeredness to be that dishonest.

[Kelsey Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

OBSESSEDDDD so cute, and i’m typically not a romance girly!!!! but I absolutely loved this one. she is so me, besides the fact that I don’t chase after married men <3 although there was a super cringe and awful part 3/4 wY through, but not bad enough for me to eliminate a star

[Nixy ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book on my grandma's shelf 😉 It was a bit slow at the beginning but once the story progressed, I couldn't put it down. It's been a while since I read an engaging novel of this genre . Kudos to the author!

[Charleyanne Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, enjoyed this one.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably amusing

[Rajat Narula · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite some quality humor at the start, didn't quite live up to its promise.

[Nessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great read, I absolutely love Catherine's books.

Thoroughly enjoyable and can't wait to read more by this author.