Teddy Wayne's new novel, "The Au Pair," delves into themes of marriage, masculinity, and the publishing world through the story of Steven Hammer, a 45-year-old literary writer whose career is in decline. Steven, once a critical success, now struggles to sell his new book and teaches at an MFA program. He is financially supported by his high-powered investment banker wife, Lucy, who earns significantly more, a dynamic that creates tension and micro-humiliations for Steven. This economic imbalance, with Lucy providing a regular "stipend" to Steven, is a key element in exploring flipped gender roles and power within their marriage.
The narrative intensifies with the arrival of Astrid, a 24-year-old Norwegian au pair, hired after their previous nanny's sudden death. Astrid's presence and flattery of Steven's writing reignite his ego and lead to an affair. Wayne uses this illicit relationship to satirize male fantasy and the self-absorption of a character who feels marginalized in an evolving cultural landscape, where literary writers compete for attention with online influencers. The book, described as a "self-aware male fantasy," progresses from domestic suspense to a thriller, culminating in a courtroom drama that transforms private scandal into a public spectacle.
"The Au Pair" is Teddy Wayne's sixth novel and has been compared to his earlier work, "The Great Man Theory," for its examination of male vanity and publishing industry politics. The novel, out in June from Harper, critically examines the artistic frustrations of a writer struggling for relevance in the AI era. It also offers social commentary on how power dynamics shift when wives become primary breadwinners. While the book has been optioned for film, Wayne himself initially kept the plot secret from his wife, novelist Kate Greathead, due to the sensitive nature of its core themes of infidelity and marital discord, though she ultimately praised the finished work.
