A Reliable Wife
by Robert Goolrick
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert GoolrickEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2010-01-05
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Book Reviews of A Reliable Wife
Book Review: Watch what you ask for
Summary: 4 Stars
Robert Goolrick's remarkable first work of fiction takes you to 1907 Northern Wisconsin. If you can wade through Ralph Truitt's sexual frustrations and fantasies before he marries Catherine Land, it's quite a good story. Goolrick's description of the trials of life in rural Wisconsin is not far removed from the descriptions in Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy. It wasn't only on the prairies and out west that people succumbed to the stresses of trying to build a life out of mud, grass, rock and snow. The Northern climes had just as many instances of fragile sanity, self-mutilation, or spouses and entire families slain.
Catherine is effectively a mail-order bride. She responds to an ad in the Chicago newspaper and, after some months of correspondence, Ralph sends his private train car to bring her to Wisconsin. None of the players is quite what the others think and their characters unfold to disclose a plot that would make a pretzel jealous. While Catherine's schemes and plans are extremely clever, Ralph seems to be just a step ahead of her. The author's story is a wonder of expanding and contracting feelings and objectives. Each player evolves as you read and try to decide who is in the right. Your empathy quickly flips from one character to another and back again. It makes for great reading.
Summary of A Reliable Wife
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.
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