The War Between the Tates

With equal measures of empathy and humour, this is the story of a family breakdown against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, second wave feminism, a widening generation gap, and the turbulence of a changing world.

Brian and Erica Tate appear to have every advantage in life- academic careers, two children, nice friends and money. But when Brian begins an affair with one of his students the disintegration of their lives is swift and shocking. Things spiral when a protest against a sexist professor at the university ramps up and Brian, hopelessly compromised by split loyalties, gets caught up in the action.

Can the Tates marriage survive? Lurie skewers both sides in this brilliant campus satire of 1960s feminism, parenthood, infidelity and academic pomposity.

‘Her humour is a delight and she writes with an almost unholy relish’ Irish Times