The Court of Common Pleas: A Novel by Alexandra Marshall

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"Marshall has the essential novelist's gift, the creation of vivid characters," said the New York Times. In her new novel, she has again created a cast both real and vibrant. At sixty-three, Judge Gregory Brennan is on the brink of retirement. With his youngest daughter headed for college, he envisions traveling abroad, basking in a repose that his demanding career has not allowed, with his wife, Audrey, at his side. But Audrey has other ambitions. At forty-nine, she sees the mythic empty show more nest as an opportunity to explore her own potential -- as a medical student. When Audrey reveals her plans, Gregory is overwhelmed, and he emotionally retreats, causing a rift that neither one of them ever anticipated. Marshall has been praised for her insight into the complexities of modern marriage, capturing it as "an institution about competing needs and shifting wants" (Baltimore Sun). In The Court of Common Pleas, marriage is not unlike the general trial court where Gregory presides. But the ruling in Gregory and Audrey's own case remains to be seen. Can their disparate life plans be mediated and their differences reconciled? Marshall offers a nuanced portrait of a marriage in the throes of a midlife crisis and reveals, with an encompassing kindness, the tenderness, frustration, bewilderment, and ultimately the joy of a marriage willed to endure. show less

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MarthaHuntley 278 reviews

This is an excellent book, a grown up story of married love. With a 14 year age difference, Gregory and Audrey had always felt like contemporaries. When Audrey, a 49 year old nurse at the top of her profession, applies to medical school and is accepted without telling Gregory, who at 63, is dreaming of retiring and traveling the world, hard feelings and hard choices abound. The two daughters, Val and Sally, provide energy and humor. I found the writing graceful and real and simply loved this book.

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