Meg Wolitzer's new novel The Uncoupling imagines what would happen if a sex strike like the one in Lysistrata took place in modern-day suburbia. In the excerpt below, teacher Dory Lang is stricken by the no-sex spell, beginning a time of crisis and reevaluation that will affect the entire town.

A Belgian senator is calling on the partners of government officials to quit having sex with them until they can compromise on a governing coalition. Another extremely serious protest idea: all Belgian men should grow beards.

Will a week-long, sex strike among Kenyan women forestall bloodshed in the East African country?