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The Lonely Wife
The Lonely Wife
Sep 22, 2024 12:33 AM

Author:Val Wood,Anne Dover

The Lonely Wife

Brought to you by Penguin.

1850: Beatrix Fawcett is just eighteen when her father tells her she is to marry a stranger. Hesitant, but with little choice, she agrees to the match - with hope for a good husband in Charles, and the surprising delight of a lovely Yorkshire house in which they are to live.

As Beatrix sets to making the house a home, she falls in love with it and the countryside nearby. But she does not fall in love with her husband... It's clear Charles has chosen her simply to meet the requirements of his inheritance and has little interest in his young wife.

Soon, the only spark in Beatrix's lonely life is her beloved children. But when Charles threatens to take them away from her, Beatrix must find strength in desperate times. Can she fight against her circumstances and keep what is rightfully hers?

A powerful story about a woman's struggle in a loveless marriage, from the Sunday Times bestselling author Val Wood.

© Val Wood 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Reviews

Wonderfully fully-fleshed characters are the mainstay of [Val Wood's] stories, and fans will love Beatrix Fawcett.

—— Peterborough Telegraph

A gripping saga.

—— The People’s Friend

Gritty and uplifting, it's a tale of triumph over adversity

—— Choice on The Mill Girls of Albion Lane

A striking debut . . . A bold, interesting novel . . . I'm excited to see what Menon comes up with next

—— Sunday Times

A bravura debut novel . . . It's clever, satisfying, and often playful

—— Guardian

This is a book saturated with the sensations of southeast Asia; where, in Menon's pungent turns of phrase, you feel as though you could "grab the air in two hands and wring it out"; where guilt can be "squatting in the room . . . stringy as spit", and where tiger princes and jungle spirits lurk amid a painful colonial past

—— The Times, pick of the latest fiction

A rich and moving family history takes shape, filled with love and heartache, guilt and grief, and no end of secrets and lies . . . Gripping, compelling . . . Menon's story shows that, though time flows on, history's waves still ripple decades downstream

—— Economist

Menon is a sparky storyteller whose thickly atmospheric debut keeps us guessing as its many ghosts press in ever closer

—— Daily Mail

A beautiful, richly textured absorbing read. I was utterly transported

—— Irenosen Okojie

A propulsive debut scattered with gems of fresh and surprising imagery. Menon is at her best exploring the intricate bond between women over generations, their histories strung tight over the fraught realities of a nation coming into being

—— Preti Taneja

Always here for a cross-generational family story, especially one that involves moral ambivalence

—— Marian Keyes selection for her PageTurners top reads

An intriguing, fast-paced, imaginative novel

—— Bad Form

A beautifully written story of one Indian Malaysian family's history, entwined with secrets and hidden heartbreak . . . Fragile Monsters is a story of homecoming which illustrates the tension of returning to a past which remains painfully present . . . a cleverly-crafted family saga which explores themes of truth, belonging and shame across multiple generations

—— Asian Review of Books

Leavened with a brisk, dry humour, Fragile Monsters is as propulsive as any mystery, with a bewitching sense of place . . . an accomplished feat of multi-stranded storytelling

—— Evening Standard

Lyrically beautiful writing

—— i

Spellbinding

—— Tatler Malaysia

A story about love, betrayal and redemption with an electric daughter-grandmother relationship at its heart

—— Sheer Luxe, reading recommendation

A terrific family saga.

—— Village Bookshelf

A lyrical prose reminiscent of William Trevor, and a haunting family drama.

—— Times Literary Supplement

One of the most exciting literary talents to emerge in the last decade.

—— Irish Examiner
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