Mrs. Fletcher

Mrs. Fletcher is a 2017 comic novel by American author Tom Perrotta. It follows the sexual reawakening of middle-aged divorcée Eve Fletcher after her son, Brendan Fletcher, departs for college. Meanwhile, Brendan finds the campus environment inhospitable to his unthinking “lacrosse bro” misogyny. Mrs. Fletcher is the seventh novel by Perrotta, best known for 1998’s Election (adapted into a movie of the same name, starring Reese Witherspoon) and 2011’s The Leftovers, which was adapted into a television show by HBO.

Plot Summary

The novel opens at Eve’s suburban home, located in the fictional town of Haddington, Massachusetts. She is helping her son, Brendan, prepare to leave for the fictional Berkshire State University, where Brendan is looking forward to the famed freshman drinking and partying. During his final summer in Haddington, Brendan is stringing along his ex-girlfriend, Becca DiIulio. Just before his departure, Eve overhears him addressing Becca in the misogynistic language of pornography while Becca performs oral sex. Eve is upset, but she cannot find an opportunity to bring it up before she drops Brendan off at BSU.

Casting around for ways to keep busy, Eve signs up for an evening class in gender studies at the community college. Eve is impressed by the teacher, Dr. Margo Fairchild—a transgender woman—and she enjoys the class. She begins making friends with her classmates, including Julian Spitzer, a teenage skateboarder who went to high school with Brendan. One night, she receives a text declaring her a “MILF” and asking for erotic photographs. In the process of trying to find out what a “MILF” is, she stumbles upon a pornographic site called “Milfateria,” featuring older women living out their sexual fantasies. Although she has reservations about pornography, she finds she cannot help browsing Milfateria. Soon, she is imagining pornographic situations in her real life and begins flirting with Julian.

After a while, Eve finds herself drawn to lesbian pornography, although she has always believed herself to be strictly heterosexual. Exploring her newfound desires, she begins flirting with Amanda Olney, her assistant at the community center where she works as an administrator. Their flirtation comes to a head when they go for a drink together one evening. Eve tries to kiss Amanda, only to find that Amanda is shocked. They are both embarrassed but resolve the situation and remain friends.

Meanwhile, Brendan is struggling to make friends at college, and his classes are going poorly. Without his mother’s support, he is beginning to feel the psychological wounds of his parents’ divorce and his father’s closeness to his other family. Brendan joins the Autism Awareness Network, because his half-brother is autistic, and because he has a crush on one of its members, a sophomore named Amber. Brendan and Amber go on a date; the evening goes well, and Amber invites Brendan up to her room. However, when they start having sex, Brendan speaks to her in the misogynistic clichés he used to use with his ex-girlfriend, Becca. Upset and angry, Amber orders him to leave.

Eve and Amanda arrange for Margo to give a talk at the community center about life as a transgender woman. Several of Eve’s classmates, including Julian, come along. The talk goes badly: The audience of senior citizens is upset and confused. Eve invites Amanda, Margo, and her classmates to her house afterward to unwind. Eventually, everyone except Amanda and Julian has left; the three of them proceed to have a ménage à trois.

At BSU, Brendan is humiliated when his image appears in another student’s art project, titled “My Call-Out Wall.” The “called-out” are labeled according to their transgressions: Brendan’s portrait is labeled “HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.” Brendan finds himself a social outcast. His grades plummet still further, and he decides to return home. In the wake of the ménage, Amanda has left her job and Eve fears repercussions, but these never materialize. When Julian approaches her, asking to begin a sexual relationship, Eve decides not to give in to temptation. Instead, she begins dating a plumber named George Rafferty, who apprentices Brendan. Brendan is happy as a plumber, and eventually, George and Eve marry.