Four Wives by Wendy Walker

I admit, I was a bit reluctant when I was given this galley by the fine folks at FSB. I mean, another story of bored housewives in suburbia? Hasn't that been done?

Boy, was I wrong.

I started this well-written, well-told novel yesterday and have found myself pulled back again and again to keep reading, only slowing down when I realized it was nearing the end. I was immediately pulled into the four stories of Gayle, Love, Janie and Marie, who, yes, have more money than most, and yes, live in suburbia, but this was more than manicures and nannies. These women, who sometimes love and sometimes hate each other, are each struggling with something bigger than themselves and their relationships, and coping in different ways.

I was rooting for some characters, and despising others; I was rooting for some to get together, and others to stay apart, but always I was rooting for these four women, and I loved that Walker used rotating voices so that we got to be inside each women's world for a chapter at a time, drawing them all together. It was suspenseful, funny at times, cringe-worthy at times, but always felt like a real peek into lives like this.

This is such a smart, compelling, slow-burn-to-the-tangled-end story: quick to read, but hard to forget.

Labels: book review