The Man Who Forgot His Wife
by John O'Farrell
Doubleday (e-book)

John O'Farrell is a jack of many trades: stand-up comedian, political satirist, light-hearted historian and Nick Hornby-esque novelist. The Man Who Forgot His Wife, his fourth work of fiction, picks up the pieces of his excellent debut, The Best a Man Can Get. There, a middle-aged man lived a double life: husband and father on one hand, lazy student on the other. In The Man Who Forgot His Wife, middle-aged Jack Vaughan suffers a peculiar but specific form of amnesia (a psychogenic fugue): he forgets all the personal details of his life, including his parents, children and wife Maddie. He is pretty shocked to learn, courtesy of best friend Gary, that Maddie is divorcing him after 20 years of marriage. Complicating matters still further is that Vaughan falls in love with his ex-wife at first sight. Vaughan attempts to resolve who he was (bad) with what he might be (better): his relationship with his father, his stagnant career, his own role as a father. At the same time, he tries to win Maddie back. O'Farrell cracks jokes the way an omelette chef might eggs but amid the levity is a moving meditation on age, complacency, loneliness and love. Unforgettable.