A beautifully observed novel by literary star Charlotte Mendelson about the joys of passionate love and those left in its wake when passion curdles, told with Charlotte's signature wit and wisdom.
A beautifully observed novel by literary star Charlotte Mendelson about the joys of passionate love and those left in its wake, told with Charlotte’s signature wit and wisdom.
'Charlotte Mendelson at her soul-searing best . . . unbearably brilliant' – Nigella Lawson, TV cook and bestselling author of Eat, Cook, Repeat
Wife by Charlotte Mendelson is heartbreaking and funny, profound and gripping, as it takes the reader from the end of a relationship to its beginning, and back again.
Zoe Stamper, junior researcher in Ancient Greek Tragedy, meets fellow academic Dr Penny Cartwright at a faculty flute recital. Dr Cartwright seems impossibly glamorous to Zoe, who is, after all, several rungs down the academic pecking order. But Penny leaves Zoe a cryptic note, and a passionate affair ensues.
Once Penny confesses all to her live-in lover, Justine, their happiness seems assured. But there is something else Penny needs as badly in her life as Zoe’s adoration, and thus the beginning of their affair might also have signalled its end . . .
'Mendelson is a master of the literary monster' – The Sunday Times
'A bravura portrait of a marriage in meltdown' – The Observer
'A clever, lacerating account of coercive control' – Financial Times
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, TV cook and bestselling author of Eat, Cook, Repeat
'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 * The Sunday Times *
A family saga of great insight, with another magnificently grotesque villain at its heart * The Observer *
A clever, lacerating account of coercive control . . . a finely executed novel * Financial Times *
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. * Glamour *
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 * Evening Standard *
Mendelson revels in the messiness of familial relationships, especially the ugly dramas that take place behind closed doors * TLS *
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 * i *
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 * The Spectator *
ISBN: 9781529052817
Dimensions: 224mm x 145mm x 34mm
Weight: 474g
368 pages