"Affairs-1 Marriage-1" by Aoife Brennan

"Affairs-1 Marriage-1" by Aoife Brennan (2013, 4 pages)

March 1 to April 7

Aiolfe Brennan 

Dublin

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"Affairs -1 Marriage - 1" by Aoilfe Brennan is a very moving story about a woman, maybe one married a bit to long to a man that is a bit too predictable.  Maybe the woman is feeling her glamour days are behind her, maybe she wonders if she can still pull any man she wants.  There was a time when this would not have been a question even.  Maybe she is a little bit jealous of her recently divorced work friend and how slim she looks now and how little she seems stressed compared to her married days.

As we meet Shirley she is getting in bed with her sleeping and lightly snoring husband John.  She has just come back from a night on the town with friends and she is a bit intoxicated.  Her husband is gone from the home one week in three for work and sometimes Shirley wishes he was gone longer.  She used to say the separations only made the times when they were together better now she looks for reasons to start fights so she can avoid sex.  She likes her life better when he is gone.

She has a work friend Joan who is always giving her sage advice about marriage.   I do not want to tell more of the plot of this story as the ending is superbly done and I was surprised not once but twice.  

In such a few pages Brennan has written a story that will make anyone who has been married a number of years wonder what they would do if they were Shirley.  It makes you see how loneliness and insecurity can push us hard.  This is a very good story with a total feeling of verisimilitude.  It is also fun to read and very well written.  

You can read this story online here

Aiofe Brennan lives in Dublin with her two teenaged sons.  Her first novel, The Cougar Diaries, Part 1 is available as a Kindle Book on Amazon.  Reviewers have called it a literate 50 Shades of Gray.  Part Two and Three will be out shortly.  I hope to read all of them soon.  

Mel u