A Reliable Wife Robert Goolrick | ISBN : 1-56512-977-6

A Reliable Wife

Author: Robert Goolrick

Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Publication Date: 18 December, 2009

ISBN: 9781565129771

Pages: 320

Subjects: General, Historical, Family life

Available as: Trade Paper, 978-1-56512-977-1 Trade Cloth, 978-1-4104-1738-1 Trade Cloth, 978-1-56512-596-4 Trade Paper, 978-1-59413-383-1 E-Book - GlassBook; Epublication content package, 978-1-56512-938-2 Audio Recording Downloadable, 978-1-4416-0694-5

Description:

He placed a notice in a Chicago paper, an advertisement for "a reliable wife." She responded, saying that she was "a simple, honest woman." She was, of course, anything but honest, and the only simple thing about her was her single-minded determination to marry this man and then kill him, slowly and carefully, leaving her a wealthy widow, able to take care of the one she truly loved.

What Catherine Land did not realize was that the enigmatic and lonely Ralph Truitt had a plan of his own. And what neither anticipated was that they would fall so completely in love.

Filled with unforgettable characters, and shimmering with color and atmosphere, A Reliable Wife is an enthralling tale of love and madness, of longing and murder.

PW Publishers Weekly

Review Source: Publishers Weekly

Review Date: 2009-01-12

Set in 1907 Wisconsin, Goolrick's fiction debut (after a memoir, The End of the World as We Know It) gets off to a slow, stylized start, but eventually generates some real suspense. When Catherine Land, who's survived a traumatic early life by using her wits and sexuality as weapons, happens on a newspaper ad from a well-to-do businessman in need of a "reliable wife," she invents a plan to benefit from his riches and his need. Her new husband, Ralph Truitt, discovers she's deceived him the moment she arrives in his remote hometown. Driven by a complex mix of emotions and simple animal attraction, he marries her anyway. After the wedding, Catherine helps Ralph search for his estranged son and, despite growing misgivings, begins to poison him with small doses of arsenic. Ralph sickens but doesn't die, and their story unfolds in ways neither they nor the reader expect. This darkly nuanced psychological tale builds to a strong and satisfying close. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved