The Lifestyle

Hahn’s zany, high-energy debut recasts Jane Austen’s meddlesome heroine Emma as a 30-something New York City lawyer, and her plan for solving everyone’s relationship issues is a foray into the swinger scene. After Georgina Wagman discovers her coworker and husband, Nathan, cavorting in his office with Georgina’s legal mentee, she takes a client’s advice and offers Nathan the bonding experience of attending swinger parties as a solution. She suggests her friends Felix and Norah (and their respective partners) join the experiment as well, ostensibly as moral support but actually in the hopes that the two of them will leave their relationships to rekindle their college romance with one another. Hahn keeps the story firmly centered on Georgina’s narrow and self-centered perspective, and her well-meaning but overinvolved tone is hilariously on-point. The swinger scene is depicted with playfulness and heart, though none of the characters fully embrace it. Georgina’s romance arc—a contrived re-meet-cute with her ex Whitaker—makes sense with the concept of fated love Hahn imports from Austen, but their monogamous happy ending feels distinctly less fun than the swinging that precedes it. Still, Hahn’s plot stands well enough on its own for those unfamiliar with Emma to enjoy, and readers who love contemporary resettings of the classics will be especially tickled. (June)