Great humor to Leary's novel, now in paperback

SHARON — Ann Leary is the wife of comedian Denis Leary and she is, in my opinion, at least as funny as he is. Her wit is sharp, subtle and completely recognizable.

And her semi-autobiographical novel, “Outtakes From a Marriage,†puts it all on display. Described by the New York Daily News as the No.1 Beach Read of 2008, “Outtakes…†traces the (fictional) life of the wife of a television star as she discovers her husband is having an affair. At least, she thinks he is.

Her well-meaning but gossipy friends offer tips and guidelines for finding out, and in the world of Google, Facebook and Twitter, there is plenty of material to examine. But what to believe?

Leary’s heroine is a full-time mother who has put her own career on hold to play the supportive wife to her struggling actor husband; but as he hits the big time she finds herself increasingly marginalized by his retinue of support people. When a star has an assistant who will flush the toilet for him, what’s left for a wife to do?

While the subject matter feels familiar (too much reading of gossip magazines can contribute to that), the charm of the book is that it’s completely believable. The reader may not have a celebrity husband, but chances are she will still relate to the parenting dilemmas, babysitter anxieties, playground conflicts, school auction angst, irritable teenagers and the terrors of succumbing to the temptation of Botox.

In the political “cheating spouse†dramas that seem to occur at least once a year, the sinner rarely confesses unless caught red-handed (and even then he obfuscates). Well, as Julia Ferraro (Leary’s fictional heroine) notes in the book, actors are trained liars and Joe (her husband), she suspects, will just make up a cover story without blinking an eye.

And so the story unfolds, part tabloid sensationalism and part real-life dilemma.

I spoke with Leary last week to try to discern fact from fiction.

Leary is one of the authors who will be at the 13th Annual Sharon Summer Book Signing at The Hotchkiss Library on July 31. She lives in northwestern Connecticut and finds it the perfect place to write. In fact it was only after she moved to Connecticut that she started writing in earnest.

“I find it so easy to work here. There are few distractions. The city, which I love, has so many distractions.â€

She theorized that the area is so conducive to writers because of its peace and quiet and proximity to nature. (When she needs a break from writing she can walk her dogs or ride her horse in the countryside.)

Like the character in her book, Leary said she was a full-time mom who always felt that she needed to have a project.

“There were a lot of moms who couldn’t only be taking care of their kids. We were neither/nors. We felt we were all too over-educated to be just full-time mothers.† 

But she wanted to stay at home and take care of the kids. And she feared she didn’t have the talent to be a full-time writer. Now the author of two successful books, she was clearly mistaken.

“An Innocent, A Broad,†her first book, was published in 2004. It is a memoir. In our interview, Leary talked about the huge difference between writing a memoir and a work of fiction.

“When I was writing ‘An Innocent, A Broad’ I had to be so careful not to misrepresent the things that happened. But the events had all occurred 10 years before, so I had to call some people and run it by them. ‘Is this what happened?’â€

“It could have been a bestseller if I went over-the-top. But you can’t do that with a memoir; look at what happened to James Frey.â€

We talked about using real-life people as inspiration for her characters and whether that’s uncomfortable.

She laughed and said, “People don’t see themselves as we do, even family members. None of the people I know saw themselves as the annoying characters.â€

So from memoir to a roman à clef, what’s next? Leary is currently working on a new work of fiction. Her kids are almost grown, her husband has a hit television show... and Ann Leary has a full-blown writing career.

 The 13th annual Hotchkiss Library booksigning is July 31 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Tickets are $25 and there will be an open bar and appetizers. There will be 26 authors there, all of them more-or-less local, some of them famous (Michael Korda, Priscilla Buckley, David Rabe), many of them local favorites (Richard O’Connor, Christopher Webber, Edward Kirby), all of them there with copies of their latest work.

For a full list and more details, go online to hotchkisslibrary.org.