Grace Brookman is in a most unusual marital crisis. Her husband of five years, Laz, is prone to disappearing for days at a time. It's just the way he is. And Grace has always dealt with it silently and in stride. But when he doesn't return for several weeks, she begins to wonder if he'll ever come back. Her solution? She decides to pretend that he's still around - to convince everyone that Laz is still home and her marriage is still intact. It seems easier than explaining.Grace quickly realizes that fabricating a husband is all in the details - the things left out, half-done, out of order: each morning, a pair of his socks in the hamper, a toilet seat up in the bathroom, cabinet doors open, crumbs on the kitchen counter. All the little signs that show a husband is around. She learns that the pretense of a marriage can be reduced to a few timely excuses and well-placed props - a presence conjured by smoke and mirrors.But as Grace masters the art of deception, she finds herself the one most deceived. She begins the realize that perhaps her marriage - and her husband - were not what she'd believed them to be.Meanwhile, taking on the role of a single wife becomes excessively complicated when Grace's own life starts to spin out of control. She discovers that she's being stalked by a Russian detective, and people from Laz's past appear on her doorstep. She can't get her kvetching parents to stop running her life. Her favorite shade of lipstick has been discontinued. And she can't figure out why she's angry at Laz's best friend for being in love. Grace's life is a New York mess. Read Less