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Overview
In Wendy Walker's brilliant debut, the lives of four wives and mothers intertwine and collide in a tale of suburban angst among outrageous wealth. On the outside, it appears as though Love Welsh, Marie Passetti, Gayle Beck and Janie Kirk lead enviable lives, with marriages to handsome, successful men; bright, happy children; and homes right out of Architectural Digest. But in the wealthy suburb of Hunting Ridge, appearances mask a deeper truth: These four wives are anything but perfect. As they try to maintain a façade of bliss, behind closed doors they each face their own crises-infidelity, dissatisfaction, self-doubt. As springtime draws to an end, doors are both opened and closed and the women come face to face with the most difficult and heartbreaking challenge of their lives-to reconcile their innermost desires with the lives that each of them has chosen. Four Wives shares a peek beyond the perfectly manicured lawns of Hunting Ridge—exposing a world as troubled as it is blessed.
Synopsis
People are talking about Four Wives...
“Four Wives is a brilliantly clever and accurate study in domestic discontentment. Acutely well-observed and suspenseful, it's a stunning reflection of life in an affluent American suburb, where the women seem to have everything...except happiness. A great read.”
–Jane Green, author of Swapping Lives
“Wendy Walker writes a cleverly woven, sexy debut that is a fascinating peek inside the gilded cages of suburban matrimony, where wives' envy for the perfect life is as green as the manicured lawns and golf tees they are widowed for, revealing the fiery restlessness beneath the placid permasmiles. A true page-turner treat.”
–Jill Kargman, author of Momzillas and co-author of The Right Address
“A fascinating read. Wendy Walker delivers a blistering dissection of modern suburban marriage. I couldn't put it down.”
–Danielle Ganek, author of Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him
Publishers Weekly
A klatch of wealthy suburban women become deeply entangled in one another's lives while planning a public health clinic benefit in Walker's uninspired first novel. Housewife Janie is having a heated affair she can't give up; lawyer Marie is trying to balance her law practice, family obligations and loafing husband when a hot summer intern arrives; heiress Gayle has turned to pills to numb her to the treatment of her abusive husband; and Love, a doctor's wife, receives a letter from her estranged father that dredges up a painful past. As the women's personal struggles invade their other, pedestrian pursuits, Love's struggle with the demands of motherhood and family forces Marie, Janie and Gayle to get more involved in the lives of their friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, Walker doesn't do much to bring life to her typecast characters, and the narrative wobbles wildly as the subplots barrel toward a big revelation. The ending is mostly happy, which will please some, but the novel's phoned-in feeling prevents readers from connecting with the characters. (Feb.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationEditorials
Publishers Weekly
A klatch of wealthy suburban women become deeply entangled in one another's lives while planning a public health clinic benefit in Walker's uninspired first novel. Housewife Janie is having a heated affair she can't give up; lawyer Marie is trying to balance her law practice, family obligations and loafing husband when a hot summer intern arrives; heiress Gayle has turned to pills to numb her to the treatment of her abusive husband; and Love, a doctor's wife, receives a letter from her estranged father that dredges up a painful past. As the women's personal struggles invade their other, pedestrian pursuits, Love's struggle with the demands of motherhood and family forces Marie, Janie and Gayle to get more involved in the lives of their friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, Walker doesn't do much to bring life to her typecast characters, and the narrative wobbles wildly as the subplots barrel toward a big revelation. The ending is mostly happy, which will please some, but the novel's phoned-in feeling prevents readers from connecting with the characters. (Feb.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
Walker's first novel is a treat. It's well written and features great characters, lots of humor, and dead-on analysis of friendship, marriage, and motherhood. Despite the appearance of leading perfect lives, four wives in a Connecticut suburb are all dealing with major issues. Janie is having an affair, Marie is attracted to an intern at her law office, Gayle is overmedicated, and Love has become physically ill because she fears what her estranged father's soon-to-be-published memoir will reveal about her life. As the women face their identity crises, they turn to one another for assistance and support while recognizing that they aren't able to share everything. Walker's portrayal of these wives is fresh and honest, never condescending or sentimental, and she avoids the trappings of a formulaic happy ending. Recommended for popular fiction and women's fiction collections.
—Beth Lindsay
School Library Journal
A klatch of wealthy suburban women become deeply entangled in one another's lives while planning a public health clinic benefit in Walker's uninspired first novel. Housewife Janie is having a heated affair she can't give up; lawyer Marie is trying to balance her law practice, family obligations and loafing husband when a hot summer intern arrives; heiress Gayle has turned to pills to numb her to the treatment of her abusive husband; and Love, a doctor's wife, receives a letter from her estranged father that dredges up a painful past. As the women's personal struggles invade their other, pedestrian pursuits, Love's struggle with the demands of motherhood and family forces Marie, Janie and Gayle to get more involved in the lives of their friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, Walker doesn't do much to bring life to her typecast characters, and the narrative wobbles wildly as the subplots barrel toward a big revelation. The ending is mostly happy, which will please some, but the novel's phoned-in feeling prevents readers from connecting with the characters. (Feb.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationKirkus Reviews
The anxieties of four suburban mothers surface as they plan a benefit for underprivileged women. Janie, who never misses a Pilates class and can drink any number of vanilla lattes with caloric impunity, is the envy of her three girlfriends-Love, Gayle and Marie-all residents of upscale Hunting Ridge, Conn. But she's desperately staving off middle age with surgery, not to mention a clandestine, motel-room affair. Meanwhile, Love, married to an ER doctor, has just received an unsettling letter from her estranged father that threatens to re-open a traumatic episode that halted her halcyon years as a child genius. Gayle, heiress to New England old money, is increasingly intimidated by her lawyer husband, Troy, who resents his financial dependence on her. Marie gave up a lucrative New York legal career for motherhood and a less demanding private practice in family law. The four friends are co-hosting a gala to take place at Gayle's estate, proceeds to go to a women's clinic. Gayle's carefully orchestrated, pharmaceutically assisted life veers off course when she realizes Troy is bullying their young son, Oliver. When her cook, sensitive artist Paul, intervenes, Troy fires Paul. Love is suffering from debilitating back pain, and her mother, aging Hollywood actress Yvonne, convinces Love that her pain is the outward manifestation of suppressed emotions that will only be released by a confrontation with her father. Marie, for her part, is battling a powerful attraction to her law clerk, Randy. She's handling a divorce case that explodes when she uncovers the secret behind the accidental death of her client's toddler. The suspense here is largely dependent on withholding information from thereader. The identity of Janie's lover could be revealed much earlier, as could the exact nature of Love's childhood trauma, without detracting from the best feature of this novel: the characters' ability to spellbind even as they whine about unhelpful, demanding, clueless husbands or otherwise appear to wallow in victimhood. Walker's debut displays a depth of characterization that almost transcends the shopworn premise. Agent: Matt Bialer/Sanford J. Greenburger AssociatesFrom the Publisher
“Four Wives is a brilliantly clever and accurate study in domestic discontentment. Acutely well-observed and suspenseful, it's a stunning reflection of life in an affluent American suburb, where the women seem to have everything...except happiness. A great read.”
–Jane Green, author of Swapping Lives “A cleverly woven, sexy debut that is a fascinating peek inside the gilded cages of suburban matrimony....A true page-turner treat.”
–Jill Kargman, author of Momzillas and co-author of The Right Address
“A fascinating read. Wendy Walker delivers a blistering dissection of modern suburban marriage. I couldn't put it down.”
–Danielle Ganek, author of Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him