Chronicles of a Midlife Crisis

Harding (Unravelled) takes a hilarious warts-and-all look at the breakup of Lucy and Trent, and its effect on their sullen 15-year-old daughter, Sam. In alternating chapters written by the combatants, Trent whines about the need to figure out "grown-up, man stuff" rather than stay mired in a "hamster-wheel existence" while Lucy rails at Trent's "curly-haired cow" of a girlfriend and considers her own risky revenge-romance with a TV heartthrob who's 13 years her junior—and Sam's ultimate crush. Sam, meanwhile, in a picture-perfect take of angsty adolescence, desperately manipulates her sparring parents. The trio, their lovers, friends, and colleagues are all lovable screwups, and the lessons learned by Lucy, Trent, and Sam lend a pleasant note of poignancy to the madcap antics. (Sept.)