Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Marriages aren't easy. Sometimes when the going gets rough, one may wonder whether they are meant to be with this person. After becoming well known for her novels for young adults, with Landline Rainbow Rowell examines a marriage at such a turning point.

Georgie McCool lives in Los Angeles with her husband Neal and their two daughters. For Christmas, they planned to go to Neal's childhood home in Omaha, Nebraska. But Georgie, a TV writer, has to stay in California to write for a new show, so Neal takes the girls himself. Georgie doesn't want to stay in their house alone so she decides to stay with her mother and 18-year-old sister. Georgie's mom keeps asking why Neal "left" her, and Georgie begins to believe her marriage is in trouble despite repeated verbal denial.

To make matters worse, Neal won't answer his cell phone, so Georgie uses her mother's landline to call Neal's mother's house. Neal answers, but something seems off; he doesn't mention their daughters and he speaks as if his father is alive despite the man dying three years prior. Eventually Georgie realizes that she is talking to her husband 15 years in the past, during a similar Christmas week before they got married. She makes excuses to herself at first, believing this to be a persistent hallucination, but comes to realize she may be able to affect her present by changing her past.

The mystery of the phone is a compelling through-line, but what will keep you reading Landline is the relationship between Georgie and Neal. We get flashbacks to how they met and the tension caused by Georgie's close friendship with her co-worker. She also worries that Neal resents living in Los Angeles since that was for her career and there's nothing there for him. This may seem like some heavy drama, but considering Georgie is a comedy writer and Neal used to draw a comic strip, there is plenty of levity to be found between them as well.

Landline is a good depiction of a realistically flawed marriage with an imaginative, thought-provoking fantasy element. Most people have imagined the possibility of going back to correct past mistakes, but usually it's better to learn from them since that's the better way to use our time.

For more information about this book or the author, visit Rowell's website.