Chris Pavone, author of the newly released novel “The Expats,” has written an installment for “The Speakeasy” section of WSJ.com about the changing roles of men and women, and how his life is a testament to that fact:
But I’m admittedly biased. Because the reason I wrote this novel about a stay-at-home parent is because I was one. Because I left New York City to follow my wife’s career opportunity to Luxembourg, where she was one of those corporate vice presidents who worked all the time, while I became an expat househusband. A cook and launderer and cleaner, a children’s chauffeur and disciplinarian. Someone who hung around the school cafeteria after drop-off, drinking coffee and chatting with other parents, before doing things like taking French classes and playing tennis, shopping at the farmer’s market and the mall, organizing vacations and birthday parties and afterschool activities.
But here’s the thing I didn’t expect in supposedly progressive Europe: I was nearly the only man doing this.
We’ll often read about the changing demographics of the expatriate workforce, so it’s not surprising to see these changes work their way into the plot of a new novel!