It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
The Man Who Forgot His Wife

The Man Who Forgot His Wife

Summary

Lots of husbands forget things: they forget that their wife had an important meeting that morning; they forget to pick up the dry cleaning; some of them even forget their wedding anniversary.

But Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife. Her name, her face, their history together, everything she has ever told him, everything he has said to her - it has all gone, mysteriously wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss. And now he has rediscovered her - only to find out that they are getting divorced.

The Man Who Forgot His Wife is the funny, moving and poignant story of a man who has done just that. And who will try anything to turn back the clock and have one last chance to reclaim his life.

Reviews

  • It's a rare treat to come across a novel that is both comic and thoughtfully acute about love, and life, and stuff... Hilarious and heart-tugging, this is indeed a memorable comedy
    Guardian

About the author

John O'Farrell

John O'Farrell's first book Things Can Only Get Better about his years spent helping the Labour Party lose elections at every level was a number one best-seller. Two decades later he published the sequel Things Can Only Get Worse. In between his two comic memoirs, he published five novels, including The Best A Man Can Get, May Contain Nuts and The Man Who Forgot His Wife; two funny history books (An Utterly Impartial History of Britain and its sequel) plus three collections of his satirical columns from The Guardian.

His books have been translated into over thirty languages and adapted for TV and radio. Formerly a comedy scriptwriter for shows such as Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You, he more recently co-wrote the movie Chicken Run 2, the Broadway musicals Something Rotten! and Mrs Doubtfire and the forthcoming Just For One Day - The Story of Live Aid, which opens at the Old Vic in 2024.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more