The Court of Common Pleas

By Alexandra Marshall

Book Overview

"Marshall has the essential novelist's gift, the creation of vivid characters," said the New York Times. In her new novel, she has again created a cast both real and vibrant.

At sixty-three, Judge Gregory Brennan is on the brink of retirement. With his youngest daughter headed for college, he envisions traveling abroad, basking in a repose that his demanding career has not allowed, with his wife, Audrey, at his side. But Audrey has other ambitions. At forty-nine, she sees the mythic empty nest as an opportunity to explore her own potential -- as a medical student. When Audrey reveals her plans, Gregory is overwhelmed, and he emotionally retreats, causing a rift that neither one of them ever anticipated.

Marshall has been praised for her insight into the complexities of modern marriage, capturing it as "an institution about competing needs and shifting wants" (Baltimore Sun). In The Court of Common Pleas, marriage is not unlike the general trial court where Gregory presides. But the ruling in Gregory and Audrey's own case remains to be seen. Can their disparate life plans be mediated and their differences reconciled? Marshall offers a nuanced portrait of a marriage in the throes of a midlife crisis and reveals, with an encompassing kindness, the tenderness, frustration, bewilderment, and ultimately the joy of a marriage willed to endure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618257535
• ISBN13: 9780618257539
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Different opinion!

I'm amazed that earlier reviewers gave this wonderful book such mediocre ratings. I wonder how old they are? As a 67 year old, I found this a glorious book, extremely well written, evoking layers of meaning in life experiences with which I truly resonated. The writing, I thought, was graceful and illuminating, a joy to read and even ponder. The story was riveting, and the characters fully formed, each in a non-caricatrured way, appropriate to their age and stage in life. It was a family story with a firm though somewhat shaken foundation. I loved the humor and the insights and the hard choices facing the characters. I found it a grown up and delightful love story and now I want to read the rest of Alexandra Marshall's books. The reason I bought the book, by the way, is that I read in someone's blog that they had considered this the best novel they had ever read of the intimacy and intricacy of married love. Martha Huntley

illuminating marriage

Marshall's writing is as intricate as her revelation of the layers in her character's motivations. I learned a lot from this book about how people evolve in their understanding of both themselves and their mates if they take time and muster the courage to reflect on their impulsive actions and words. Many of the sentences contain kernals wrapped in layers of related ideas, much like the characters themselves. In this era when everybody seems too busy, relationships, especially marriages, are continually in danger of rupturing from inattention and misunderstanding. This book celebrates the rewards of taking time to reconsider, imagine how the situation looks from your spouse's perspective, and learn how to change. It's a beauty.