Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe: A Novel

  • Author: Evan James
  • Narrator: Jonathan Davis
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Duration: 9:26:57
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Synopsis

Named one of 2019’s most anticipated reads by Entertainment Weekly, “a hilarious and witty joy of a novel about a family’s insanely dramatic summer at their new island home” (Cosmopolitan) in the Pacific Northwest.

The inimitable—some might say incorrigible—Frank Widdicombe is suffering from a deep depression. Or so his wife, Carol, believes. But Carol is convinced that their new island home—Willowbrook Manor on the Puget Sound—is just the thing to cheer him up. And so begins a whirlwind summer as their house becomes the epicenter of multiple social dramas involving the family, their friends, and a host of new acquaintances.

The Widdicombes’ son, Christopher, is mourning a heartbreak after a year abroad in Italy. Their personal assistant, Michelle, begins a romance with preppy screenwriter Bradford, who also happens to be Frank’s tennis partner. Meanwhile, a local named Marvelous Matthews is hired to create a garden at the manor—and is elated to find Gracie Sloane, bewitching self-help author, in residence as well. When this alternately bumbling and clever cast of characters comes together, they turn “as frothy and bitter as a pot of freshly brewed dark-roast coffee, the kind that’s always available on the Widdicombe’s sideboard. And the dialogue, oh how it singes and sears” (The Washington Post).

A “gleefully over-the-top satiric debut” (Kirkus Reviews), Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe is perfect for fans of Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Andrew Sean Greer’s Less, and Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins.

Chapters

  • 001 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Title

    Duration: 12s
  • 002 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part1a

    Duration: 59min
  • 003 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part1b

    Duration: 01h07min
  • 004 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part1c

    Duration: 47min
  • 005 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part2a

    Duration: 56min
  • 006 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part2b

    Duration: 01h15min
  • 007 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part2c

    Duration: 46min
  • 008 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part3a

    Duration: 55min
  • 009 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part3b

    Duration: 41min
  • 010 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part3c

    Duration: 01h14min
  • 011 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Part3d

    Duration: 41min
  • 012 CheerUpMrWiddicombe Credits

    Duration: 23s