The Amateur Marriage

Anne Tyler’s “The Accidental Demise” is a heartbreaking confessional novel by a living classic of American literature, winner of numerous literary awards.

Aaron has suffered from overprotectiveness all his life. Partially paralyzed since childhood, he has been held in caring clutches—his mother, his sister, and the cane he tried to get rid of whenever he had the chance. Meeting Dorothy—slightly cynical, independent, and a bit cold—becomes for Aaron like a sip of freedom. And now they’re married, happy, and self-sufficient. But one day, an old tree falls onto their cozy care-free home, and happiness is gone.

Aaron feels as if his previous life has been erased. Everything has to begin again, alone. He keeps living, going to work, even making jokes—but it’s as if he’s doing it on autopilot. Then one day he sees Dorothy on the street. And soon she’s walking with him, and he talks with her—astonished that no one else seems to see her. Dorothy’s ghost helps him go on living. A subtle novel filled with warm humor and unexpected optimism about loss and the rebirth of life.