Infidelity is never easy for an unsuspecting spouse, especially one who is blindsided by her husband’s indiscretions and learns about them accidentally. That’s what happened to Cynthia (Cindy) Copeland when she stumbles upon a series of emails her husband left open on the family computer. Suddenly, the happy marriage she thought she had is crumbling, and life as she knows it will never be the same again.
 
Of course, infidelity, while sad and often devastating, is rather commonplace, in storytelling and in real life. What makes it interesting reading is when the storyteller can delve beyond the obvious and find the inner pain, revelations, and emotional connections that draw readers in and compel them to become absorbed in this story. Copeland manages that in Good Riddance, her memoir about her divorce, which took place more than a decade ago.
 
Good Riddance shines in the smaller moments, such as a page where Copeland frets about being the first person in her family to get a divorce (an understandable fear), or when a good friend experiences a similar betrayal, but makes very different choices.
 
Some of the typical wounded-divorcée bitterness sneaks in, but at the same time, it’s interesting to watch a mostly amicable divorce unfold. Copeland tells her husband, “No matter how I feel, T.J., I’ll never say anything derogatory about you to the kids,” or “I promise I’ll do everything I can to make it easy for you and the kids to get together.” This is obviously a one-sided story --- memoirs usually are --- but still, Copeland seems to struggle earnestly to depict events evenly and fairly.
 
While Good Riddance claims to be a memoir of divorce, the truth is that it’s really a memoir about how life unfolds after one. That’s where the gems of life really start to shine and where harsh reality settles in as well. Copeland finds rife material in both, while showing that life goes on after a happy ending turns into a crushing disaster.