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Naturally, that’s when his phone rings. His niece, Cecily—the real love of Tom’s life, as his boyfriend reminded him when moving out—is embroiled in a Title IX investigation at the college where she teaches that threatens her career and relationship. And after decades of lying, his sister wants him to help her tell Cecily the real identity of her father.
Tom does what he’s always done—answers the call. Thus begins a journey that will change everyone’s life and demonstrate the beauty or dysfunction (or both?) of the ties that bind families together and sometimes strangle them.
Warm, funny, and deeply moving, You Only Call When You’re in Trouble is an unforgettable showcase for Stephen McCauley’s distinctive voice and unique ability to create complex characters that jump off the page and straight into your heart.
Author: Stephen McCauley
Paperback Published 8 April 2025 336 page
Read and Reviewed by Graeme:
"Stephen McCauley is best known for his novel The Object of my Affection, adapted into a film starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. This is his eighth novel and his books generally feature a gay male main character (or two) and often a female main character. In this novel we have Tom, who is in his early sixties, his career as an architect is in jeopardy if he doesn’t manage to get a client to commit to proceeding with a major project, and his boyfriend Alan has left him, weary of always being put second to Tom’s niece Cecily. Consequently, Tom is drinking too much and has stacked on the weight - meanwhile Alan has found an attractive, successful new boyfriend already! Cecily has her own problems in her academic career - she’s being investigated over inappropriate conduct with a female student, and this has been a strain on her own relationship. Meanwhile Tom’s sister Dorothy, the haphazard single mother of Cecily, has become entangled with a self help author in Woodstock and has poured all of her money into an ill-advised retreat centre. Dorothy has also decided to finally come clean about the fact that she has always known the identity of Cecily’s father - it wasn’t a fling on a cruise ship as she always claimed - but someone known to them all for decades. The set-up is tantalising and Stephen McCauley is a master at unfolding the narrative in a clever, entertaining manner with many sharp jabs of laugh-out loud humour. His books are always a pleasure to read and this latest one does not disappoint!"