WE ARE ALL FINE HERE

"So, I figured, what the hell." That's Julia's response to just about anything, including marriage, pregnancy and cheating on her husband—not necessarily in that order. In this wry, brutally honest debut novel, Guterson slashes into the happy homilies of chick lit, revealing the underside of happily ever after. Part-time middle-school teacher Julia is nearing 40 and married to more-or-less satisfactory Jim, a Seattle sports writer, with whom she has a 15-year-old son, Chad. For years, she's been pining away for her first love, Ray, and when she sees him at a wedding—"looking for all the world like a sun-drenched god"—she promptly follows him into the bathroom. Soon she's pregnant, and she can't be sure whether the father is Jim or Ray. Meanwhile, clueless Jim is distracted by a painfully obvious crush on his young, beautiful officemate Patricia, which prevents him from taking the moral high ground. What distinguishes this book from its genre counterparts is author Guterson's unabashed willingness to let Julia voice the sort of thoughts that are publicly eschewed, and these glimpses into the mind of her tell-it-like-it-is narrator make for some liberating, laugh-out– loud passages. There are also moments of heartbreak and kindness—particularly in Julia's relationship with Chad—which are all the more potent for their understatement. Agent, Sarah Burnes at Burnes & Clegg. Rights sold in France, Holland, Italy and Japan. (Jan.)

FYI: The author's brother is David Guterson ( Snow Falling on Cedars; Our Lady of the Forest).