Title: THE YOUNGER WIFE
Author: Sally Hepworth
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Read: October 2021
Expected publication: out now
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Book Description:
Stephen Aston is getting married
again. The only problem is, he's still married to his first wife, even though
she is in a care facility for dementia. But he'll take care of that easily, by
divorcing her--even if his adult daughters protest.
Tully and Rachel Aston look upon Heather as nothing but an interloper. Heather
is the same age as Rachel and even younger than Tully. Clearly she's a
golddigger and after their father's money. Heather has secrets that she's
keeping close, and reasons of her own for wanting to marry Stephen.
With their mother unable to speak for herself, Tully and Rachel are determined
to get to the truth about their family's secrets, the new wife closing in, and
who their father really is. But will getting to the truth unleash the most
dangerous impulses...in all of them?
My musings:
When I say that one thing I love about Sally
Hepworth’s novels is that they are a “lighter” kind of read, I don’t mean that
they lack depth. I am merely referring to the same tongue-in-cheek Aussie
humour that makes a lot of Australian crime fiction such a pleasure to read. On
one hand we have a mystery to sink our teeth into, on the other we are able to
have a giggle here and there. Isn’t that just the perfect balance?
THE YOUNGER WIFE is all about family
secrets, so if you love that theme as much as I do, you’re in for a treat.
Imagine your father introducing you to his new girlfriend, soon to be wife, who
is a few years younger than you. Now step it up one notch and imagine that your
mother is still alive and still married to your Dad, and is in a nursing home
dying from advanced Alzheimer’s. How would you feel? It’s a complex question
with no right or wrong answer, but everyone will be able to relate to Rachel
and Tully on some level as they grapple with their own feelings about this. But
in the process of this upheaval, new family secrets are being brought out into
the open, begging the question whether it really is the new wife they should be
afraid of ....
I love the way Hepworth slowly twists the lens and shifts the focus so the edges of the perfect family blur slightly as the shadows come more into focus. Has everything Rachel and Tully have believed about their family been a lie? How much denial does it take to keep up the pretence of a happy marriage and family life? There are some very complex themes here, which may have been heavy handed or disturbing in other books, but which Hepworth handles with a gentle insight and care that made me feel deeply emotionally connected to the characters.
Summary:
THE YOUNGER WIFE will appeal to readers who enjoy a
lighter mystery that focuses more on the slow reveal of family secrets than the
crime. Full of warm wisdom and tongue-in-cheek humour, it made a compelling and
enjoyable read I was loathe to put down. Very enjoyable!
Thank
you to Pan Macmillan Australia for the free copy of this novel and for giving
me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
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