Books with title The Wife

Joan Castleman is 64, and she wants to leave her husband, an award-winning novelist. As she ponders her decision, she reflects on their years together, during which he has been an unfaithful husband, a decent father, and--it is gradually revealed--something else as well. Joan must decide whether to make this fact public and preserve his reputation, or reveal it and ruin his life. Then fate intervenes in the form of a coronary, changing the equation. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.

Meg Wolitzer brings her characteristic wit and intelligence to a provocative story about the evolution of a marriage, the nature of partnership, the question of a male or female sensibility, and the place for an ambitious woman in a mans world.The moment Joan Castleman decides to leave her husband, they are thirty-five thousand feet above the ocean on a flight to Helsinki. Joans husband Joseph is one of Americas preeminent novelists, about to receive a prestigious international award, and Joan, who has spent forty years subjugating her own literary talents to fan the flames of his career, has finally decided to stop. From this gripping opening, Meg Wolitzer flashes back to Smith College and Greenwich Village in the 1950s and follows the course of the marriage that has brought the couple to this breaking point—one that results in a shocking revelation.With her skillful storytelling and pitch-perfect observations, Wolitzer has crafted a wise and candid look at the choices all men and women make—in marriage, work, and life.