The Man of the House
When Clyde Carmichael isn't teaching at a posh but flaky adult learning center, devouring biographies in search of a design for living, or obsessing about his ex-lover, Gordon, he's dodging his insecure sister and impossible father, who may or may not be at death's door.
At thirty-five, Clyde's in danger of becoming too much like Marcus, his handsome (and unswervingly straight) roommate, who's spent the past ten years not writing his dissertation and not falling in love with a string of beautiful women.
Enter Louise Morris, Clyde's old friend and Marcus' onetime lover is a restless writer and single mother who arrives in Cambridge with her son, Ben, and a neurotic dog in tow. The looming question of Ben's paternity nudges Clyde back into the orbit of his own father—and propels all of the characters into bittersweet emotional terrain.
Praise for The Man of the House
"A wry, bittersweet look at the importance and impossibility of father-son relationships. The writing is seamless, the story never lags, and it is filled with eccentric characters and observations you'll find yourself reading aloud." USA Today
"Stephen McCauley writes novels so delightful you want to collar passersby and read them passage out loud." US
"Irresistible....McCauley's latest and most emotionally complex probe into family dysfunction." Elle
