How to Be a Good Wife cover art

How to Be a Good Wife

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

How to Be a Good Wife

By: Emma Chapman
Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £10.99

Buy Now for £10.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Marta and Hector have been married for a long time – so long that she finds it difficult to remember her life before him. He has always taken care of her, and she has always done everything she can to be a good wife.

But when Hector comes home with a secret, their ordered domestic life begins to unravel. In the shadows there is a blonde girl that only Marta can see. And she is trying to tell her something . . .

 Contemporary Fiction Domestic Thrillers Family Life Genre Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Fiction Marriage

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Just After Midnight cover art
A Is for Angelica cover art
The Dancing Girls cover art
Her Sister's Child cover art
The Baby Shower cover art
The Phone Call cover art
Hope Farm cover art
The Feud cover art
Before We Grow Old cover art
The New Wife cover art
Just the Way You Are cover art
The Life You Left Behind cover art
The Family Holiday cover art
Cal cover art
In Her Wake cover art
The Things We Never Said cover art

Critic reviews

‘Taut, elegant and pitch-perfect. As soon as you've read it you'll want to talk about it’. Evie Wyld, author of After the Fire, A Still Small Voice
‘A tense, unnerving debut, told with precision and control. As unsettling as any ghost story’ Simon Lelic, author of Rupture and The Child Who
‘An impressive debut novel. Here’s hoping there’ll be more from Emma Chapman’ M. J. Hyland, Man Booker prize shortlisted author of Carry Me Down and This is How
‘Compelling, edgy and dark – I read How To Be a Good Wife in one sitting’. Jane Rusbridge, author of Rook and The Devil's Music
‘On the surface the book is a highly competent, creepy little chiller, but beneath, like a silent, bolted and half-dark room, there’s a much bigger, equally disconcerting story about the nature of feminine experience. It’s an accomplished debut from a writer who shows insight and emotional power’. Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize winning author of Wolf Hall
‘A compelling debut: tightly plotted, tensely written, and subtle in its explorations of motive. Emma Chapman is very accomplished and a bright hope for the future’. Sir Andrew Motion
‘Claustrophobic, startling and hauntingly beautiful. It’s that amazing, awful kind of book that will stay with you long after you wish it would let you go’ Liza Klaussmann, author of Tigers in Red Weather
‘This taut debut will have you rooting for Marta as she rediscovers who she was before her marriage. A must-read for fans of S.J.Watson’. Easy Living
‘The after-effects of the dark and uncomfortable story linger long after the last page . . . a gripping piece of writing where everything is not quite as it seems’. Psychologies
‘An intensifying mood of menace pervades this mesmerising debut. Is the fragile Marta slipping into paranoia? Or glimpsing agonising insights into a devastating nightmare about herself and her “perfect” marriage…?’ David Hewson, author of The Killing
‘A compelling, twisty tale of deception and distrust. Beautifully written, and very clever indeed’. Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner
‘Fans of Before I Go To Sleep will love this chilling debut from Emma Chapman’. Grazia
‘In her first novel, Emma Chapman has managed to walk a delicate, terrifying line. How To Be a Good Wife is at once claustrophobic, startling and hauntingly beautiful. It’s that amazing, awful kind of book that will stay with you long after you wish it would let you go’. Liza Klaussmann, author of Tigers in Red Weather
‘A chilling study of paranoia and doubt… Chapman builds the tension, as Marta’s behaviour becomes more erratic and her seemingly benign husband begins to appear in a sinister light. An unnerving tale, where nothing is as it seems.’ Marie Claire
All stars
Most relevant

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Nearly gave up early into story as was very depressing listening to the main characters internal thoughts.

Would you ever listen to anything by Emma Chapman again?

Yes

What three words best describe Fenella Woolgar’s voice?

Haunting, emotional, depth

Was How to be a Good Wife worth the listening time?

Wouldn't want to listen again, too miserable for me.

Any additional comments?

Quite depressing.

Exhausting main character

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this slow and miserable at first but it hotted up eventually. I was disappointed at the ending... thought she would do more for herself.

Unsettling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What did you like most about How to be a Good Wife?

Normally I gallop from read to read but this book brought me to a full stop. I had to think and make my own conclusions about how I saw life as a woman après marriage, career , children, etc. etc. I am haunted by this novel I will never forget it. Most pulp I accidentally read I think of it zero moments after finishing. I would highly recommend this book. I will definitely read it again.

What did you like best about this story?

You were truly engaged and gripped,involved, stricken and with her all the way.

What about Fenella Woolgar’s performance did you like?

Compleatly inside the veins of the protagonist, gripped me relentlessly.... Would not let go.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, yes, and yes again!!

Any additional comments?

I would strongly recommend the lover of a good book to give this some time, understand like all best books you have to give it time to evolve. Well worth the read....audio fantastic!!!!

A must read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.


****BEWARE SPOILERS****

This was quiet a different story of a woman called 'Marta' and her husband 'Hector'. She appears initially and maybe in reality as a sufferer of a mental illness. The husband appears to be caring for her but the dynamics of their relationship (even if it is real and she has a mental illness) is very odd. From his perspective we are led to believe that he took her in from his doorstep and despite having to care for her mentally and sometimes physically he loves her and is still begging her 'never to leave him'. If this is true then a relevant question is why would he do this and continue to do so for some years when he was getting nothing back from it ie what was in it for him. He comes across as something of a pervert with the rape of 'Marta' in the book and the way he was under investigation for an inappropriate relationship with a student in his school. He had been suspended for 2-3 months without saying anything. Its all a little odd if you think about it.
If 'Marta' has a point re her remembering events then why should everyone believe him and why should even her son not take it further considering her obvious distress. Her son said he found no reference to her disappearance on the internet but surely there should be a record of her parents deaths and she would have had to produce a birth certificate and proof of her identity in order to marry Hector as it said they were married in a church.
I did enjoy it but do not think it would be everyones cup of tea and would not as such wholeheartedly recommend it.

Dysfunctional relationship and odd story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed this story more than I expected, and although Marta can be a frustrating character at times in how she reacts to things, it's understandable why she behaves as she does, and becomes clearer as the story goes on. A good read

A well paced story with a surprising twist

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews