The Liability of Love: A Novel

Susan Schoenberger

Jul 2021 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Margaret Carlyle is searching for an epic love as she heads to college in 1979 after the loss of her beloved mother to cancer. When a charismatic boy named Anders rapes her on their first date, she wants nothing more than to forget it ever happened. But as the years pass, each life decision she makes seems driven by what happened that night.

When Anders becomes famous as an actor, Margaret can no longer ignore her past—and she must make choices that will affect everyone around her, most notably her husband, Douglas, and Fitz, the man who has loved her patiently since college.

This deeply moving novel is a window into class and privilege, the mysteries of marriage, and the destructive power of secrets—and an examination of what happens when we try to bury the past, as well as the consequences of confronting it.

About the author

Susan Schoenberger is the award-winning author of A Watershed Year and The Virtues of Oxygen. With a linotype operator as a grandfather, she has ink in her blood and worked as a journalist and copyeditor for many years, including for The Hartford Courant and The Baltimore Sun. She currently serves as Director of Communications at Hartford Seminary, a graduate school with a focus on interfaith dialogue. She lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, with her husband, Kevin. They have three grown children and a small dog named Leo. She lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.