Jennifer Niven (When We Were Monsters) picks the pivotal year of 1964 as her setting for the charming, thought-provoking Meet the Newmans. The world is still reeling from the Kennedy assassination; many women who had been part of the workforce during World War II are questioning their place in society; and the Beatles have recently arrived in the U.S.
Del and Dinah Newman of television's Meet the Newmans are "America's favorite married couple." Their sons, Guy, 22, and Shep, nearly 18, have grown up on the show. Guy longs to direct, and Shep, who launched a lucrative singing career, feels like he's owned by both CBS Studios and CBS Records. When Del is in a car accident and winds up in a coma, the Newmans know the show must go on, even as they keep his condition a secret from the network. Just two episodes remain in the season, their sponsors have backed out, and the final episode's script has yet to be written.
Dinah taps journalist Juliet Dunne to be her co-writer on the season finale. Juliet is a daring choice, considering she made clear to Dinah just how "out of touch" she believes the series is. This fascinating relationship becomes the constellation around which the novel orbits. Niven humorously and perceptively exploits the juxtaposition of a TV family who have lost the distinction between their on-air personas and their real lives. She wisely does not go for the quick fix or the sitcom ending. Niven instead leaves readers with a realistic picture of a loving family reconstituting itself as growing individuals after a tectonic shift. --Jennifer M. Brown