LAST COUPLE STANDING

This delightful romantic comedy is a feel-good, compulsively readable novel about the drastic measures we take to make a relationship work.

Rosalita's. Central Perk. MacLaren's Pub. If there's one thing pop culture gets right it's that close friendships are the product of location and habit. That's certainly proved true for the Core Four. They all met in college and paired off between sophomore and junior year, all got married around the same time, and all live in Baltimore. They've been hanging out together through an endless loop of holidays, birthdays, and achievements and marching two by two through family and career milestones.

And then real life happens. Affairs, betrayals, and big questions like, Did we just get married because we were both obsessed with The Cure? Suddenly, three of the Core Four are divorced and Jessica and Mitch are left wondering if they are doomed to follow their friends, just as they've always done. With a sense that they have no right to thrive where their friends have failed, Jess and Mitch decide to do something radical, and put their otherwise happy, functional marriage to the test. What follows is a relatable, funny, and emotional tale of the impact of that decision and how sometimes doing something bad is the only way to get to the heart of what is good.

LAST COUPLE STANDING is in the vein of Jonathan Tropper, Emily Giffin and Nick Hornby;

Matthew Norman is the author of two previously published novels: Domestic Violets (2011) and We're All Damaged (2016). His writing has appeared on Salon, the Good Men Project, and the Weeklings. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Baltimore.