And with My Ex-Life, a heartwarming comedy of manners about second chances and starting afresh, he has pretty much outdone himself. His most recent novel, Insignificant Others, wittily explored the question of whether an affair on the side of a serious relationship is ever actually insignificant. In Alternatives to Sex, McCauley made hay by drawing connections between obsessions with real estate and online sex. Whether you're gay or straight, male or female, young or old, his big themes are the central importance of love and affection and the joy of sex and soul mates, wherever you find them. McCauley's social comedies have consistently demonstrated what's known in publishing as "crossover appeal" - they're charmers without borders. Now, five years after the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage, a character in My Ex-Life, McCauley's delightful seventh novel, quips, "I wish they'd legalize friendship unions." When his first novel, The Object of My Affection, was published 31 years ago, same-sex marriage was somewhere over the rainbow, but his characters, gay and straight, banded together to create a new-fangled family. No one writes about close friendships and unconventional domestic arrangements between gay men and straight women with as much charm and flair as Stephen McCauley.
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