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A review by flowerchildreads
The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
4.0
There’s a lot to unpack here friends. A. LOT. I binge read The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth in one sitting into the hour not quite night but not quite morning. Time your reading start carefully, you will not put this down. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around what happened.
In post Covid Australia a seemingly idyllic family is anything but when you get past the money, manners, misdirection, and malfunctioning relationships. Patriarch Stephen is a respected doctor, father of two grown daughters who revere him, doting grandfather, whose wife is suffering from dementia. Stephen announced his engagement to girlfriend, Heather, at a meet and greet lunch with daughters, Rachel and Tully. Torn between loyalty to their mother and wanting to please their father the sisters are further conflicted by unnamed and unresolved childhood traumas. As they bond with Heather a question arises about Stephen, one that not only jeopardizes the upcoming wedding but the entire foundation of their family.
This is my first book by Sally Hepworth so I had no idea what to expect. It is a carefully woven psychological suspense with several threads going in different directions. We don’t know what’s going to connect where, how important something is going to be, if another thread is going to be introduced and woven in to fill in a gap and tying together seemingly unrelated areas until you give it a little tug at the end. Usually an ambiguous ending bothers me, and this did at first, less so now. I’m inclined to go back and revisit parts to see if I can connect more, always an excellent sign.
I recommend for readers and bookclubs who enjoy psychological suspense, also for buddy reads. There’s so much to discuss in this one.
*TW: This is a book best gone in cold but if you have sensitivity to content navigating sexual assault, miscarriage, or physical and psychological abuse then due diligence is suggested.*
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the gifted copy.
In post Covid Australia a seemingly idyllic family is anything but when you get past the money, manners, misdirection, and malfunctioning relationships. Patriarch Stephen is a respected doctor, father of two grown daughters who revere him, doting grandfather, whose wife is suffering from dementia. Stephen announced his engagement to girlfriend, Heather, at a meet and greet lunch with daughters, Rachel and Tully. Torn between loyalty to their mother and wanting to please their father the sisters are further conflicted by unnamed and unresolved childhood traumas. As they bond with Heather a question arises about Stephen, one that not only jeopardizes the upcoming wedding but the entire foundation of their family.
This is my first book by Sally Hepworth so I had no idea what to expect. It is a carefully woven psychological suspense with several threads going in different directions. We don’t know what’s going to connect where, how important something is going to be, if another thread is going to be introduced and woven in to fill in a gap and tying together seemingly unrelated areas until you give it a little tug at the end. Usually an ambiguous ending bothers me, and this did at first, less so now. I’m inclined to go back and revisit parts to see if I can connect more, always an excellent sign.
I recommend for readers and bookclubs who enjoy psychological suspense, also for buddy reads. There’s so much to discuss in this one.
*TW: This is a book best gone in cold but if you have sensitivity to content navigating sexual assault, miscarriage, or physical and psychological abuse then due diligence is suggested.*
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the gifted copy.