“ Middle Spoon subverts the ordinary novel with intelligence and vulnerability. . . . Varela
has made a sly analytical opera of the heart.” —Andrew Sean Greer author of Less and Less Is
Lost “A rollicking delight! . . . Varela asks provocative questions about the shape of
family and the nature of love.” —Ada Calhoun New York Times bestselling author of Crush One
of TODAY ’s 50 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2025 · Named a Must-Read Book of Fall 2025 by
Town & Country Lit Hub and W Magazine A whipsmart blazingly funny novel about heartbreak
unconventional love and the way society could be from National Book Award finalist Alejandro
Varela The narrator of Middle Spoon appears to be living the dream: He has a doting husband
two precocious children all the comforts of a quiet bourgeois life—and a sexy younger
boyfriend to accompany him to farmers markets and cocktail parties. But when his boyfriend
abruptly dumps him he spirals into heartbreak for the first time and must confront a world
still struggling to understand polyamorous relationships. Faced with the judgment of friends
and the sting of rejection he’s left to wonder if sharing a life with both his family and his
lover could ever truly be possible. With a big heart and just the right dose of the anxieties
that define the modern era Middle Spoon skewers the unspoken rules we still live by—from
taboos around intimacy to the shortcomings of Oscar season pop culture and gluten-free
food—offering a surprising perspective on love loss and reinvention. Equal parts
heart-wrenching and uproariously funny Middle Spoon is for anyone who has longed nursed a
broken heart or grappled with love at its messiest.
