Lila Chapin feels invisible. A devoted wife and mother of two, she sacrificed her teaching career as her husbandβs job moved the family around the country. Now settled in the Boston suburbs, he is swiftly climbing the corporate ladder while she takes care of him and their sons. She is greatly appreciated at the soup kitchen where she volunteers, but at home sheβs taken for granted. She realizes just how true this is when her husband and children forget her fortieth birthday.
She withdraws a chunk of money from the bank and takes off. This will be her birthday present to herself: a month without her family, a month in which she puts herself, her needs and her whims first.
Ken Chapin loves his wife. Yes, he has been neglecting her lately as he vies for a senior management position at the high-tech firm where he works, but heβs always assumed they were a team, working side by side to make their family happy. Yet what kind of team is it when Ken gets all the glory and Lila does all the vacuuming? Her disappearance forces him to reconsider the direction their lives have taken and just how much he needs her. But has his insight arrived too late to save their marriage?
© 2003-2026