Publisher: Dutton
Published: December
31, 2019
ISBN: 978-1524744939
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Suspense
Format: Ebook from
Library
FIVE HEARTS
Living the dream Alice and Nate Harper have purchased a home in
bucolic Greenville, New York. Not that
far from Scarsdale the 1940’s style house needs some work, but the Hales love
it. Well, Nate does and given that Alice
has left her public relations job to be a full time writer and Nate will be
paying the bills, what matters is that Nate loves it. Their meeting and subsequent marriage was the
stuff of true romance…he kind of rescued her from an icky situation while out
running and is just the best kind of guy.
Sensitive to his wife’s needs, loving and caring Alice is a lucky
woman. As she settles into their new
home she comes across some old Ladies Home Journal magazines and a 1950’s era
cookbook. Embracing the suburban
lifestyle Alice begins cooking the recipes from the cookbook and rebirthing the
garden let unattended for some time.
Life is good for the Hales.
Fifty some years ago another couple moved into the house –
Nellie and Richard Murdoch. They too had
an ideal marriage, at least for the latter 1950’s and at least on the
surface. Below the surface was a more
sinister relationship. One Nellie was too afraid to speak about. But Nellie finds ways to deal with what today
we would know was an abusive husband.
As Alice delves into Nellie’s story she begins to uncover more
than a cookbook with some delish recipes.
What a fantastic read!
Karma Brown is a new to me author and it was through my library
newsletter I learned about her and her latest, THE RECIPE FOR A PERFECT
WIFE. This is a wonderful, multi-layered
read. Told about Alice and Nellie’s
lives the book can be read as a straight contemporary with historical
perspectives or a much deeper read contrasting the parallels and differences
between the two women’s lives. The life
Alice now has begins to show strong parallels to Nellie’s marriage. But overtime, Alice veers from the course
Nellie had and in part because of how we view and handle things today and in
part Alice coming into her own, she ultimately takes her life in the direction
she wants. Through her own mother’s
words and those Nellie left behind Alice learns who she is and what she wants. She confronts unpleasant truths about herself
and her marriage and unlike Nellie she is able to save her marriage as well as
her own identity. Not that Nellie was a
coward or stupid; she was a product of her time and caught in a web of what the
perfect wife was.
Nellie does, finally, come into her own and I have to admit I
cheered her when she did. I hurt for her
with each case of Richard’s abuse and more so when the truth about her mother
came out. At the same time I cheered for
her as to how she coped with and used what was going on with her mother to hold
herself up. The character of Nellie was
a remarkable woman.
There was so much to like and enjoy in this book. I wish it had been a book club read so I
would have other people to talk with about it.
I started it one morning and pretty much read it through the day and
late into the night because I wanted to know how it ended as well as Brown is
just a wonderful writer. This is
definitely a do not miss read.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
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