SOURCE: See, Carolyn. “The Last Straw.” Washington Post, no. 194 (16 June 2000): C2.

In the following review, See observes that the central theme of Marrying the Mistress is how actions can have far-reaching effects on one's family and personal relationships.

When Simon Stockdale [in Marrying the Mistress], a hard-working family man approaching his 40th birthday, hears that his own father will be leaving his mother and marrying a woman he's had an affair with for seven years, the news presents itself as unbearable in every way. For one thing, Simon has given over his whole life to a certain brand of probity and virtue. He and his wife seem never to have even been on a vacation; he has nothing to show for his life so far but three highly iffy adolescent children, a few good deeds done, and a spouse who seems to love him in spite of, rather...