It’s time for another Book Club Book Review! I’m not sure how this book was chosen but since I was told that we would HAVE to meet at a restaurant which has great cakes as a character in the book is a baker, I’m guessing someone was in the mood for something sweet. Or a domestic thriller. Or maybe both.

When I first started reading The Younger Wife, I was reminded of Jane Eyre, mostly because there was a first wife who seemed to be embarrassing to the family. But actually, the book was very different. There are four main characters in this story: Stephen, a doctor and an extraordinarily charming man; Heather, the new, younger wife; Tully, Stephen’s kleptomaniac daughter; and Rachel, Stephen’s daughter who bakes. The book starts when Stephen brings Heather to meet his daughters. The meeting, predictably, does not go well because Stephen’s wife is still alive, albeit suffering from Alzheimer’s. Things get more and more intense as Stephen and Heather’s wedding approaches and family secrets are hinted at.

It is impossible to talk about this book without talking about the ending. I’m going to keep things as vague as possible but if you cannot have even hints of how things end up, you might want to skip this review (I’m keeping it vague, though!).

So there are two things I liked about this book:

One, it is a masterclass in gaslighting. I heard about how the book’s initially ending was controversial, because it did not explicitly confirm something, but honestly, I felt that the whole book was made for ambiguity. In a way, you could read things the way you really wanted to, if you wanted to believe in a certain character, but if you wanted to trust someone’s initial response, or want to see how people can be made to see situations in a different light, then the book shows it as clear as day.

Two, none of the women are evil. Quite often, books with a stepmother (or a first and second wife) have one wife innocent and one wife evil. The twist may be in who is the evil one, or what happens at the end, but generally, there is a good and bad guy. I liked that this premise was not adhered to in this book at all and all the women were flawed but likeable characters. It’s a very refreshing change of pace and I’m glad that in the end, I didn’t have to pick someone to support; I could root for all three of them!

Apart from that, I also want to give a shout-out to Sonny, Tully’s lawyer husband. He wasn’t very likeable at first, but then I realised I was misreading the situation and minimising the effect of stress on him. I really liked how he and Sonny’s relationship was by the end of the book; it was not something I was expecting but it was a good ending.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I definitely was expecting something else based on the premise, but the story I read was pleasantly different. I know there are quite a few bad reviews of the book (possibly because of the initial ending), but for what it’s worth I really enjoyed this!