The Wife and the Widow

by Christian White

Overview

The second standalone thriller from Christian White, the award-winning author of The Nowhere Child.

Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, The Wife and The Widow is an unsettling thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband’s secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside when she’s forced to confront the evidence of her husband’s guilt. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives.

Brilliant and beguiling, The Wife and The Widow takes you to a cliff edge and asks the question: how well do we really know the people we love?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250781635
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/09/2021
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 5.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Christian White is an internationally bestselling and award-winning Australian author and screenwriter. His debut novel, The Nowhere Child, won the 2017 Victorian Premier's Literary Award and screen rights were quickly acquired by Anonymous Content (US) and Carver Films (Australia). He also co-wrote Relic, a feature film starring Emily Mortimer. Christian lives in Melbourne with his wife and their adopted greyhound.

Editorial Reviews

"The author does a vivid job of creating real characters and captures the alternately calm and claustrophobic feeling of island life. Some readers will find the twists fair and others, infuriating, but no doubt all will hang on to discover the ending."—Kirkus Reviews

"White delivers a shocking, excellently executed twist that will have readers reexamining their assumptions; this and the sordid details of decades-old misery and fierce parental love make The Wife and the Widow a story to remember. Fans of White’s debut will be pleased with this follow-up."—Booklist

"White’s sophomore outing succeeds as both a clever literary puzzle and an insistent page-turner."—The Seattle Review of Books

"White destroys any thoughts of a sophomore slump with an entrancing standalone mystery. White draws readers in quickly and adroitly with this compulsive tale, which is a stay-up-all-night kind of book full of masterful plotting and strong characters. The claggy setting is fittingly oppressive and everything builds to a culmination that is breathtaking."—Mystery Scene

From the Publisher

2019-10-28
When Melbourne resident Kate Keddie learns her missing husband has been lying to her about having gone to London for work, she looks for answers on a small Australian island, where local woman Abby Gilpin is also dealing with consequences from her husband's secrets.

The two women are strangers, but they won't be for long. Kate, a passive, go-along sort of spouse, is stunned to find that her husband, John, has been lying to her about work; he hasn't been there for three months. She and her gruff father-in-law leave Melbourne for Belport Island, where Kate and John have a summer home, in search of answers. Meanwhile, Abby, a crude but tough mother, is trying to work extra shifts at the grocery store to help with finances. Her husband Ray's job as a caretaker for unoccupied vacation houses is seasonal and uncertain, and he's been moodier than usual. The novel is told in alternating chapters from each woman's point of view. There are so many twists and turns that to reveal more of the plot would be unfair; suffice it to say that the story doesn't go where most readers will expect it to. The author does a vivid job of creating real characters and captures the alternately calm and claustrophobic feeling of island life.

Some readers will find the twists fair and others, infuriating, but no doubt all will hang on to discover the ending.

Kirkus Reviews