The First Husband

The First Husband - Laura Dave

"When The First Husband opens we find Annie Adams completely content in her life: she gets to tour the world writing her rather successful travel column; her long term boyfriend, Nick, is beginning to taste success as a film director; her much-loved dog, Mila, is keeping her feet warm. What could go wrong? In the next breath her world begins to unravel: Nick announces he is leaving her for the possibility of a better life with a better woman, taking her beloved Mila with him; she learns her job is potentially in danger since the paper has been taken over by a new owner; the once comforting home she shared with Nick becomes filled with the memories of what they had and what will no longer be.

With the push of her best friend, Jordan (Nick's sister), Annie decides to thrust herself back into life to see if it will stick. She finds herself in a beachside restaurant after hours, where she meets Griffin who is highlighting as Executive chef until the permanent chef returns and he goes home to small town Massachusetts to open his own restaurant. Annie instantly feels connected to Griffin and decides that he might be the new lease on life she was looking for, her way to be someone new and improved. As they get to know each other the time dwindles until Griffin must go back to the life he had only temporarily put on hold...with one new addition: Annie.

Annie takes a leap and accepts Griffin's impromptu wedding proposal, traveling to Massachusetts, by way of Las Vegas and a little wedding chapel, ready to begin anew. What she doesn't expect when they arrive is Griffin's brother, Jesse, waiting at their home with his two rambunctious and sticky twin boys, declaring he and his wife are separated. She doesn't expect the ex girlfriend who spent thirteen years with Griffin and doesn't seem able to fully let go, or the icy mother in law that dotes on Griffin's ex as the daughter in law she wished she had. She doesn't expect to feel trapped by the small town life or the total immersion into a past she doesn't share with Griffin. Most of all, she doesn't expect the feelings that keep creeping into her thoughts: did I make a mistake rushing into this?

When Nick shows up at the opening of Griffin's new restaurant and declares he is ready to give Annie everything she wanted from him she has to make a decision: does she go back and begin again the life she thought she always wanted, or does she live this new life she never knew was missing?"


The First Husband is a great novel by author Laura Dave.  It is smart and intelligent, and is not your basic chic-lit.  It shows the difficulties of finding a true love and soul mate in a world that is ever-changing in a career/money focused society.  Annie struggles with finding her Home in a fast paced career.  She is given the opportunity to travel to magical, dream destinations all over the world, but no matter how many places she goes and how many people she meets she still struggles with being lonely and sad.  She did not realize what was missing until she found it. It just happened to be her first husband, Giffin.  In haste she married and moved with him to a small town across the country.  The novel does a great job of showing just how much that right person means to us and how nothing (even a dream job in a great country) is as good as love is.  She struggles with an ex-boyfriend issue that is resounding to us all. The one that wants us back once we moved on.  She showed us how to be brave and move on.  It was a great novel that was well written. 

4.25 out of 5