The New York Times just published an article on the trend of women writers to integrate the recent economic downturn into their plots. I was thrilled to be one of the writers discussed in that article NYT/Social Lives, and it occurred to me that my readers might enjoy some thoughts on this and the other social issues that are shaking up my characters’ lives in my new novel, Social Lives.

So here we go. First, check out my new video trailer for the book. It says a lot about the topic.

I started writing Social Lives almost two years ago, well before anyone could even foresee what might transpire from the multi-layered mortgage derivatives that had proliferated within Wall Street hedge funds. Having just covered the issue of women “opting out” of paying careers in my first book, Four Wives, I wanted to find a new angle to explore. The characters in Four Wives are each facing a personal, internal crisis resulting from the choice they have made to be suburban housewives. It seemed appropriate to see what might happen when the consequences of that choice became more tangible and urgent.

I have written on numerous occasions about the bizarre social structure that I am a product of and that still surrounds me out here in the wealthy burbs. (See my article Opt Out Universe). It may seem controversial to say this, but as long as there is a free market economy and outrageously high paying jobs a mere train ride away, nothing is going to change. Those jobs are 24/7 and anyone who thinks they can be wrestled into becoming “family friendly” needs to take a basic economics class. There will always be someone willing to work longer and harder. Smart only gets you so far. What that leaves is a complete void on the home front, which is filled by wives who care for children, husbands and houses. There are some exceptions of course – the two income households, the Wall Street woman and Mr. Mom – but they are rare.

So what becomes of a woman who has spent seventeen years as the wife of a Wall Street banker who is about to lose everything? This is a woman who is highly skilled. She can manage a staff. She can decorate with impeccable taste. She can host a party like a professional. And she is mother, doctor, shrink and social worker to her numerous children – the next elite generation. She has worked hard, studied her surroundings and was and is invaluable to the success of her husband. And yet, after all those years, she has no marketable skills – no value in the world unless she is attached to a man as his wife.

Enter Jacqueline Halstead. After discovering that her husband is being investigated for a Bernie Madoff type scheme in his hedge fund, she begins to realize the extent of ruin her life, and the lives of her children, sister, and sister’s children, will be in if her suspicions are right. Lacking any formal education or career experience, Jacks has nothing to fall back on except the thing she knows best. Being someone’s wife.

What happens to Jacks in Social Lives, and how she comes to see the life she’s created, are fiction. But a quick perusal of today’s headlines underscores the very real consequences for women whose husbands fail to live up to their end of the implicit bargain. Without any legal recourse, these women, and their children, are not only left with little money, they are left without the resources that working women acquire throughout these vital years.

What is strange for me is that I am not a diehard advocate of women choosing work over raising children. Being a stay home mom was my life for over a decade, and even though I have a law degree to fall back on, the salary I could earn in this economy and after not practicing for so many years would hardly pay for the childcare I would need to cover my absence from the home.

So where does this leave us? What do all of these books, including Social Lives, say about our culture? Are they advocates for change? Condemnations of how we value the work women do in the home? Or simply entertaining exposes on the plight of the wealthy, who – by many accounts – created this situation to begin with? Hmmm.

For me, it’s really none of the above. I don’t believe we can truly alter the division of labor in the wealthy suburbs. Nor do I see gender roles changing that much either. Instead, I wrote Jacks’ story in Social Lives because it posed a fascinating dilemma for a compelling character, and by following Jacks through her journey, maybe we can all learn more about ourselves – and the people we find ourselves wondering about in the world.

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