Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe: A Novel

Written by Evan James

Narrated by Jonathan Davis

Named one of 2019’s most anticipated reads by Entertainment Weekly, “a hilarious and witty joy of a novel about a family’s insanely dramatic summer at their new island home” (Cosmopolitan) in the Pacific Northwest.

The inimitable—some might say incorrigible—Frank Widdicombe is suffering from a deep depression. Or so his wife, Carol, believes. But Carol is convinced that their new island home—Willowbrook Manor on the Puget Sound—is just the thing to cheer him up. And so begins a whirlwind summer as their house becomes the epicenter of multiple social dramas involving the family, their friends, and a host of new acquaintances.

The Widdicombes’ son, Christopher, is mourning a heartbreak after a year abroad in Italy. Their personal assistant, Michelle, begins a romance with preppy screenwriter Bradford, who also happens to be Frank’s tennis partner. Meanwhile, a local named Marvelous Matthews is hired to create a garden at the manor—and is elated to find Gracie Sloane, bewitching self-help author, in residence as well. When this alternately bumbling and clever cast of characters comes together, they turn “as frothy and bitter as a pot of freshly brewed dark-roast coffee, the kind that’s always available on the Widdicombe’s sideboard. And the dialogue, oh how it singes and sears” (The Washington Post).

A “gleefully over-the-top satiric debut” (Kirkus Reviews), Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe is perfect for fans of Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Andrew Sean Greer’s Less, and Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Mar 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9781508284192

Evan James

Evan James is an award-winning writer whose personal essays and fiction have appeared in such publications as Travel + Leisure, Oxford American, and The New York Times, among others. He is the author of Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has received fellowships from Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Lambda Literary Writers’ Retreat, where he was an Emerging LGBTQ Voices Fellow. He lives in New York.

Reviews for Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe

[froxgirl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Rich white people in Seattle without problems! Some humor, much New Age silliness, all white people all the time. Don't bother.

[jypsylynn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe is, for lack of a better word, weird. I know it's supposed to be odd and strange and satirical. The overall story seemed to be trying to hard to be something weird. Too much quirkiness and not enough story to balance it out. I didn't enjoy this book like I thought I would. It's too much oddness for my taste. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[pomo58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe from Evan James is an enjoyable satirical read that succeeds quite well at entertaining the reader. I make that stipulation about being entertaining because that quality is often undervalued. I know I often do so when I enjoy a book but don't necessarily feel it added nuance or understanding to my world view. But some works are meant to entertain and should be assessed on that basis.I did not immediately get into the book and put it aside for a couple of weeks to be able to give it a fresh start. With a better mindset toward it I found that I enjoyed it a great deal. There aren't major social or political comments here, though one could easily make some if desired. It was a fun, humorous, and sometimes mildly annoying (at some of the characters) novel that made me want to keep reading yet likely won't stay with me very long.I definitely recommend this to readers who want or need a fun novel to read with quirky characters and situations most of us will never even come close to experiencing. Just read it for fun, it will reward you if you do.Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads.