"Set in a small Wisconsin farming and manufacturing town still crumbling a decade after the depression of the 1890s, A Reliable Wife tells the story of Ralph Truitt, a wealthy businessman who advertises for “a reliable wife” in newspapers across America. The woman he chooses, Catherine Land, describes herself as “a simple, honest woman,” but in truth she is both complex and devious— not the missionary’s daughter she claims to be in her letter to Truitt but a courtesan of great beauty, kept by men and haunted by a terrible past. Catherine’s plan in accepting the marriage offer is simple: she will win this man’s devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is the passion she finds in this seemingly solid, forthright man—a man who also harbours secrets and whose own past is far from pure.
Filled with remarkable characters and drenched with colour and atmosphere, A Reliable Wife is a story of love and madness, longing and murder, played out in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis."
Turns out there was WAY more sex stuff than I needed to read. But the story definitely pulled me in so that I felt like I had to know how it ended. So, I'm not sure if I would recommend it or not!! There were lots of quotes that made me wish I was reading with a book and pen. I caught one: "we all want to be somebody else. Somebody braver, or more handsome, or smarter. It's what children want. It's what you grow out of if you're lucky. If you don't, it's a lifetime of agony....Play the hand you have, Antonio, that's all anybody expects. And it's a pretty good hand."
Summertime for me means reading lots of mysteries at the beach. So I ordered every Peter Robinson book I could get my hands on. The next two were Dead Right and In a Dry Season. Both were good, but of the two, In a Dry Season is the one I can't stop thinking about. If you're looking for a new mystery author, Peter Robinson is very good.
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.
