A Reliable Wife
|
|
Set in a small Wisconsin farming town crumbling under the impact of the troubled economic times of the 1890s, A Reliable Wife tells the story of Ralph Truitt, a wealthy businessman who advertises for “a reliable wife” in a Chicago newspaper. The woman who answers, Catherine Land, describes herself as “a simple, honest woman,” but in truth she is both complex and devious -- not the missionary’s daughter she describes in her letter but a courtesan of great beauty, kept by men and haunted by a terrible past. Her plan in accepting the marriage offer is simple: she will win this man’s devotion and then, over time, poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is the passion she finds in this seemingly solid, forthright man -- a man who also harbours secrets and whose past is far from pure.
Filled with remarkable characters and drenched with colour and atmosphere, A Reliable Wife is a story of love and madness, longing and murder, played out in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.
|
|
|
Author Extras
|
|
|
|
Critical Praise for
A Reliable Wife
“Buy it.”
-- National Post
—
“A beautifully written, beautifully dark book. Goolrick is a superb writer.”
-- Chicago Sun-Times
—
“A strange, shimmering novel, a fever-dream of betrayal and eroticism whose impact remains after the fever has passed.”
--Hamilton Spectator
—
“A killer debut. . . . [A] suspenseful and erotic novel of secrets and revenge. . . . chillingly engrossing . . . good to the riveting end.”
-- USA Today
—
|
Heading Out to Wonderful
In Heading Out to Wonderful , an attractive and enigmatic stranger—Charlie Beale, a loner, recently home from the war in Europe—wanders into the town of Brownsburg, a sleepy village of only a few hundred people nestled in the Valley of Virginia. He brings with him two suitcases: one contains all...
|
|
A Reliable Wife
Set in a small Wisconsin farming and manufacturing town still crumbling a decade after the depression of the 1890s, A Reliable Wife tells the story of Ralph Truitt, a wealthy businessman who advertises for “a reliable wife” in newspapers across America. The woman he chooses, Catherine...
|
|
|
Heading Out to Wonderful
In Heading Out to Wonderful , an attractive and enigmatic stranger—Charlie Beale, a loner, recently home from the war in Europe—wanders into the town of Brownsburg, a sleepy village of only a few hundred people nestled in the Valley of Virginia. He brings with him two suitcases: one contains all...
|
|
|
|