click [here] for a q&a about the novel...
or [here] or [here] for a couple of interviews...
click [here] to see The New York Times explain things...
and there is also this, from the inside flap...
When Jack Lang impulsively buys a second house directly across the street from his own, his wife Beth has finally had enough. She leaves him—and their six-year-old autistic son, Hendrick—to move in with Jack’s best friend, Terry Canavan. Jack tries to tell everyone in his life that he’s okay, but no one believes him: Not his employees at Patriot Mulch & Tree in suburban North Carolina, not Beth herself, and not Canavan’s estranged girlfriend, Rena, who arrives on Jack’s doorstep to see how, and whether, he’s bearing up.
The morning Hendrick, who rarely talks to anyone at all, suddenly starts speaking fluent Spanish, Jack knows they’re in uncharted territory. But as he lets Rena further into his life, even while he wonders whether Beth is ever coming home, he begins to suspect that the world is far more complicated than he’d ever believed.
Jack’s attempt to navigate this new landscape—one of defunct putt-putt courses and karaoke bars, parenthood and infidelity—is the subject of this wise, witty, and large-hearted debut novel. As the adults change houses, partners and perceptions, Hendrick emerges from his shell in ever more unexpected and delightful ways to become, at times, the story’s center of gravity. Perry’s fresh and funny insights into marriage, autism, suburban ennui, and life’s occasional miracles are certain to captivate readers.
