My Husband Next Door (Catherine Alliott)

Catherine Alliott was born and raised in Hertfordshire – making me slightly biased towards her books as I am also a Hertfordshire girl! – But she is most definitely (in my eyes anyway) the Queen of romantic comedy novels! My Husband Next Door (2013) is the thirteenth book by Alliott and is a brilliant read. All of Alliott’s books have a similarity in that the main character is a thirty-something woman going through various life crisis’ and always ending up in funny situations that leave you laughing out loud because they are so realistic you can see yourself doing the same.

My Husband Next Door introduces us to Ella who is very much separated from Sebastian, her husband and the father of her two children, and yet he lives in an outhouse across the lawn from Ella’s farmhouse. Ella seems unhappy about this situation but when Sebastian decides it’s time to move on it catches her unawares and leaves her with feelings she’s unsure what to do about. Whilst all this is happening she is thrown into the middle of her own parents’ marriage crisis whilst struggling to bring up two moody teenagers and look after the menagerie of animals residing on the farm. All of this combined brings a very comedic element to the story but does not distract from the true storyline of how Ella feels about her relationship with her husband.

A key point that Alliott brings up in this novel is that though you may think you are doing the right thing for someone, without actually talking to them about it you may in fact be hurting them more. Which I think is a key point in any relationship really, whether it’s between family, friends or lovers. In this novel Ella has always maintained she is happy for Sebastian to still be so close even if their own relationship is so bad, because it means that their children have still got their father in their lives. However, in actual fact the children themselves reveal that they don’t like the situation because it is not ‘normal’ compared to other families who have separated. Ultimately everyone’s lives would have been a lot happier if one of them had moved away sooner.

Alliott has always had a great way of interweaving serious elements with comedy and My Husband Next Door is no exception. I really enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to read the next one!