When Does "The War of the Roses" (1981) Take Place?

"The War of the Roses" is a comedy novel written by Warren Adler that released April, 1981. So when is "The War of the Roses" set? 


It takes place in the year: 

1978? AD 

We know this because during the May 1960 AD prologue, Jonathan Rose says, "Harvard Law is damned expensive. I start in the fall." So Jonathan is a recent undergraduate in the summer of 1960 AD going into graduate school in the fall of 1960 AD. When Ann the . As the character is introduced, the narrator specifically says, "sixteen" . in chapter three "I'm only forty" Their marriage has lasted 18? years. 

1,960 + 18? = 1,978?. 

Additionally, the book opens with a flashback prologue in chapter one into chapter two during which the unnamed narrator tells us, ..."her name was Barbara Knowles; she was a student at Boston University; she had wanted to spend the summer as a volunteer for Kennedy to help him win against Nixon, but she couldn't afford that." The real-world campaigns of United States of American president John F. Kennedy and US Vice President Richard M. Nixon culminated in the US presidential election held on November 8th, 1960 AD. So it must be the summer of 1960 AD during the prologue. 

More specifically, the narrator continues, "Most of the tourists who had crowded into Chatham on Thursday and Friday, hoping for a pleasant Memorial Day weekend"... The Memorial Day holiday is celebrated on the last Monday in May so it is currently May of 1960 AD at the prologue's start. At the very beginning of chapter two, the narrator specifies, "A reddish spear of light from the slipping September sun bounced off the metal tools laid neatly in the box." so it is September of 1960 AD at the end of the prologue. 

It was adapted to film in 1989 and again in 2025 as "The Roses".