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How to Be a Good Wife

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What to expect

Marta and Hector have been married for a long time – so long that she finds it difficult to remember her life before him. He has always taken care of her, and she has always done everything she can to be a good wife.

But when Hector comes home with a secret, their ordered domestic life begins to unravel. In the shadows there is a blonde girl that only Marta can see. And she is trying to tell her something . . .

Critics Review

‘Taut, elegant and pitch-perfect. As soon as you've read it you'll want to talk about it’. Evie Wyld, author of After the Fire, A Still Small Voice
‘A tense, unnerving debut, told with precision and control. As unsettling as any ghost story’ Simon Lelic, author of Rupture and The Child Who
‘An impressive debut novel. Here’s hoping there’ll be more from Emma Chapman’ M. J. Hyland, Man Booker prize shortlisted author of Carry Me Down and This is How
‘Compelling, edgy and dark – I read How To Be a Good Wife in one sitting’. Jane Rusbridge, author of Rook and The Devil's Music
‘On the surface the book is a highly competent, creepy little chiller, but beneath, like a silent, bolted and half-dark room, there’s a much bigger, equally disconcerting story about the nature of feminine experience. It’s an accomplished debut from a writer who shows insight and emotional power’. Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize winning author of Wolf Hall
‘A compelling debut: tightly plotted, tensely written, and subtle in its explorations of motive. Emma Chapman is very accomplished and a bright hope for the future’. Sir Andrew Motion
‘Claustrophobic, startling and hauntingly beautiful. It’s that amazing, awful kind of book that will stay with you long after you wish it would let you go’ Liza Klaussmann, author of Tigers in Red Weather
‘This taut debut will have you rooting for Marta as she rediscovers who she was before her marriage. A must-read for fans of S.J.Watson’. Easy Living
‘The after-effects of the dark and uncomfortable story linger long after the last page . . . a gripping piece of writing where everything is not quite as it seems’. Psychologies
‘An intensifying mood of menace pervades this mesmerising debut. Is the fragile Marta slipping into paranoia? Or glimpsing agonising insights into a devastating nightmare about herself and her “perfect” marriage…?’ David Hewson, author of The Killing
‘A compelling, twisty tale of deception and distrust. Beautifully written, and very clever indeed’. Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner
‘Fans of Before I Go To Sleep will love this chilling debut from Emma Chapman’. Grazia
‘In her first novel, Emma Chapman has managed to walk a delicate, terrifying line. How To Be a Good Wife is at once claustrophobic, startling and hauntingly beautiful. It’s that amazing, awful kind of book that will stay with you long after you wish it would let you go’. Liza Klaussmann, author of Tigers in Red Weather
‘A chilling study of paranoia and doubt… Chapman builds the tension, as Marta’s behaviour becomes more erratic and her seemingly benign husband begins to appear in a sinister light. An unnerving tale, where nothing is as it seems.’ Marie Claire
‘Compelling and complex, this brave novel offers no safety nets… Not just a gripping read but an essential one. It will provoke questions long after the cover is closed’. Ruth Dugdall, author of The Woman Before Me, winner of the CWA debut dagger award.
‘Chilling and original with plenty of tense moments to keep the pages turning'. Simple Things
‘Mesmerising. A beautiful and disturbing novel. I loved it’. Susanna Jones, author of When Nights Were Cold
‘There is something about the pared-down prose, the increasingly ominous isolation and the sense of unease that our narrator feels that saves the story from melodrama – instead the reader, trapped with a sympathetic yet unreliable narrator, begins to align themselves ever more closely to Marta’s position. This is a tremendous book’. The Huffington Post
‘Chapman mines this vein of claustrophobic creepiness to great effect’. The Lady
‘Wonderfully assured… This is a tale of the tricks repression, denial and memory can play on us… Set in an eerie, purposefully undefined part of Scandinavia, this is an unnerving, clever read. It’s one of those novels (think Gone Girl) with a big twist. Recommended for fans of S J Watson, Rosamund Lupton and Zoe Heller’. Viv Groskop, Red
Author Emma Chapman
Narrator Fenella Woolgar
Duration 6 hours and 59 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9780230772601
Format Audiobook
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Genre Narrative theme: Interior life, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Psychological thriller
Availability GB, IE

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