Marriage and Other Monuments

Marriage and Other Monumentsicon

by Virginia Pye

Publisher
Koehler Books
Publication
Feb 10, 2026
Format
Paperback/Softback
Illustrated
No
Price
22.95
Dimensions
6 x 9
ISBN
9798888248911
Pages
314
Age
Adult 18+
Category
Contemporary WomenGeneral FictionLiterary Fiction

Rights Sold

🌍 World Wide Rights Available

Description

"A suspenseful family drama with powerful themes of social justice." Bruce Holsinger, author of Culpability, an Oprah Book Club pick In the summer of 2020, social justice protests and the removal of Confederate monuments rock the city of Richmond, Virginia, as the marriages of two estranged sisters implode. When Cynthia's husband, Bobby, can no longer hide his dire financial situation, their union finally ruptures. Melissa, her sister, has dedicated herself so fully to racial justice activism that she becomes alienated from her own Black husband. As the summer heats up and their marriages veer in opposite directions, the sisters have no choice but to turn to one another. Meanwhile, their husbands conspire in a racial reckoning that their ancestorsone old Virginia White, the other old Virginia Blackwould never have dreamed of. Marriage and Other Monuments shows how secrets within a marriage erode trust, and that for couples to evolve they must be true to who they are as individuals and as members of an imperfect society.

Awards & Endorsements

Review
"Marriage and Other Monuments is a riveting contemporary narrative that intertwines suspenseful family drama, powerful themes of social justice, and a plot ripped soulfully from the headlines. Pye tells a story of race, marriage, and politics ideal for book club discussions and sure to satisfy readers of every stripe." Bruce Holsinger, author of Culpability, an Oprah Book Club pick "Fans of Ann Napolitano and Mary Beth Keane: Buy this novel immediately! An engrossing, timely family saga, Virginia Pye's Marriage and Other Monuments explores complicated truths about race and classand love and desirein the contemporary South, shining a brilliant light on the turmoil of 2020 through the lens of history." Joanna Rackoff, author of My Salinger Year

Author(s)

Virginia Pye

Virginia Pye is the author of four awardwinning books of fiction, including two postcolonial historical novels set in China, River of Dust and Dreams of the Red Phoenix, the short story collection, Shelf Life of Happiness, and her previous novel, The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann, a love story to writers and readers set in Gilded Age Boston. Virginia's essays have appeared in The New York Times, Literary Hub, Publishers Weekly, Writer's Digest, and elsewhere. She has taught writing at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, and, most recently, at Grub Street in Boston. Virginia is the fiction editor of the literary journal Pangyrus, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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