Skipping a Beat (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781451609820)

From the author of the acclaimed The Opposite of Me, a poignant, witty novel about marriage, forgiveness, and the choices that give shape--and limits--to our lives.

What would you do if your husband suddenly wanted to rewrite all of the rules of your relationship? This is the question at the heart of Skipping a Beat, Pekkanen's thought-provoking second book.

From the outside, Julia and Michael seem to have it all. Both products of difficult childhoods in rural West Virginia - where they were simply Julie and Mike - they become high school sweethearts and fall in love. Shortly after graduation, they flee their small town to start afresh. Now thirty-somethings, they are living a rarified life in their multi-million-dollar, Washington D.C. home. Julia is a highly sought-after party planner, while Michael has just sold his wildly successful flavored water company for $70 million.

But one day, Michael collapses in his office. Four minutes and eight seconds after his cardiac arrest, a portable defibrillator jump-starts his heart. But in those lost minutes he becomes a different man. Money is meaningless to him - and he wants to give it all away. Julia, who sees bits of her life reflected in scenes from the world's great operas, is now facing with a choice she never anticipated. Should she should walk away from the man she once adored - but who truthfully became a stranger to her long before this pronouncement - or give in to her husband's pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life?

As wry and engaging as her debut, but with quiet depth and newfound maturity, Skipping a Beat is an unforgettable portrait of a marriage whose glamorous surface belies the complications and betrayals beneath.

Author: Sarah Pekkanen
ISBN-10: 1451609825
ISBN-13: 9781451609820
Publisher: Atria Books
Language: English
Published: 02/22/2011
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.61lbs
Size: 8.26h x 5.31w x 0.99d

Review Citation(s):
People 03/14/2011 pg. 53
Entertainment Weekly 04/01/2011 pg. 80
Publishers Weekly 11/22/2010
Library Journal 12/01/2010 pg. 105
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2011