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Wife

The Intensely Witty and Empathetic Novel from the Author of The Exhibitionist

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Wife

By: Charlotte Mendelson
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
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About this listen

'Crackles with female fire and fury' – The Guardian
'A bravura portrait of a marriage in meltdown' – The Observer
'Fast and furious' – The Sunday Times

Wife, the gripping new novel from the prize-winning author of The Exhibitionist, is a nail-biting portrait of the beginning - and the end - of a rollercoaster marriage.

When Zoe Stamper first catches the eye of the sophisticated Dr Penny Cartwright, she thinks her life has changed for the better. Entering into a relationship with an older woman introduces Zoe to a world she previously thought unreachable. Their love story begins.

Now married with two children, Zoe is sick of living a lie. On the outside she's a loving and beloved wife, but inside she's a nervous wreck. She knows she must escape this secret darkness, but how?

Moving between the beginning and the end of Zoe's marriage, Wife brilliantly conveys the horror, humour and suspense of a midlife bid for freedom.

'A terrific panic attack of a novel' – i newspaper
'Lacerating' – Financial Times
'Unbearably brilliant' – Nigella Lawson
'A gift to the reader . . . Irresistible' – Amy Bloom, bestselling author of In Love
'Compelling' – Glamour
'Truly radical' – The Spectator

 Divorce & Separation Family Life Genre Fiction LGBTQIA+ Creators Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Parenting & Families Relationships Funny

Critic reviews

Poleaxed after finishing this. Charlotte Mendelson at her soul-searing best. Narcissistic monsters and suffocating families are quite the specialty of hers, but Wife is just unbearably brilliant (Nigella Lawson, bestselling author of Cook, Eat, Repeat)
Wife is a gift to the reader in its gimlet-eyed and heartfelt observations, its irresistible sentences and its compassionate, sometimes surgical storytelling. Charlotte Mendelson tells the truth: slant, suspect, hidden, hard – and often hilarious (Amy Bloom, bestselling author of In Love)
'This is a love story,' Zoe tells the reader, and it is, profoundly so, in the end. But I'll remember it more as a thriller, for the way Mendelson manages to make what looks from the outside like a sad but unremarkable day – packing, Tube journeys – feel like sweaty offcuts from The Bourne Identity . . . God, you want Zoe to get away. Does she? Better read the book
A family saga of great insight, with another magnificently grotesque villain at its heart
A clever, lacerating account of coercive control . . . a finely executed novel
A deeply engaging exploration of a troubling and passionate affair, motherhood and personal transformation . . . Mendelson's vibrant characters and richly detailed narrative provide a captivating look at the complexities of love and self-discovery. Compelling.
Mendelson is an extraordinary writer . . . Her characters are whole and complex, her tone crisp and familiar, her prose uncluttered and full of delightfully bitchy moments
Mendelson revels in the messiness of familial relationships, especially the ugly dramas that take place behind closed doors
A terrific panic attack of a novel, a domestic horror story . . . Mendelson's particular triumph is that this story is – perversely, incredibly – enjoyable, the kind of book to be wolfed down in a single excruciating sitting
The heart of this novel is how Mendelson portrays, with some comedy alongside the horror, the disintegration of a marriage. The claustrophobic bullying is so well done that I found it nauseating. What is truly radical about Wife, however, is its portrayal of a contemporary lesbian couple behaving as dysfunctionally as a straight one might
All stars
Most relevant
As a married lesbian, I really hoped this book would add a realistic portrayal of lesbian marriage into the sparse literature on the topic. Lesbians are typically so underrepresented in both history and literature I was thrilled when I read the blurb to this novel. However, the main characters were unlikeable and deeply flawed. Zoe felt like a shell of a personality and Penny was too much like a caricature to be taken seriously. Such a shame because the book touched on some very serious themes of co-parenting, isolation in a modern society where public spaces for lesbians are disappearing, and domestic abuse and power dynamics within a same sex relationship. Sadly, I really wanted to like this book but was left disappointed.

Characters deeply flawed and narrative fragmented

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I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn't get into it at all. Sadly I couldn't finish it. I had to abandon as the story seemed to be so slow I didn't know where I was half the time. The characters were really annoying too. The narrator was excellent though. It may appeal to some but not me. Sorry

Annoying characters

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It’s excellently written, but I can’t help but loathe the Balders, and especially Penny- to the point of yelling back at her when she’s off on one! Manipulative, thy name is Penny, but a brilliant book.

Run, Zoe!

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This is a well written book and I got very involved in the story and wanted to know what happened. On the down side, the characters are generally awful people and were a bit wearing to spend time with. The narrator is excellent and does the different voices extremely well.

Compelling but not always enjoyable

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I wasn’t sure at first but as I got further into the book I loved the dynamics

Something different

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