Victoria is unhappily married to a controlling lawyer-on-the-rise. Stuck in a dead-end job of her own, she finds refuge in books and in the stories she tells herself in her head.  One day, in a favorite café, she notices a man across the room: not only is he attractive, but he’s reading the same book that she is. (It is never named, but avid readers will recognize that it is Hanya Yanagihara’s love-it-or-hate-it A Little Life.)  Bingo:  Victoria is sure she has found her soul mate. The problem is, Victoria still has a husband, and some overbearing inlaws and a best friend who doesn’t seem to understand her all that well.  Frustrated, and desperate to change her life, Victoria tries to find a solution to her situation by retreating to the dark places in her mind, and to all the books she’s ever read. She begins to fantasize about night visits to her café man, and to imaginative ways (think Jane Smiley’s poisoned pickles from A Thousand Acres, for example) of getting rid of the dread husband.   These are all just fantasies or scenes from books, of course – until, one night,  the real world takes over and Victoria looks like she’s about to get everything she’s wished for……