Wife: The Latest Novel From 'A Master at Family Drama' The Times

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'One of the funniest writers in Britain' - The Guardian Set in the world of London academia, both past and present, Wife by Charlotte Mendelson is heart-breaking and funny, profound and gripping, as it takes the reader from the end of a relationship to its beginning, and back again. When Zoe moves in with Penny, their relationship looks perfect; after all, everyone wants a wife. But this is the story of how love can become a disaster . . . Zoe Stamper, junior researcher in Ancient Greek Tragedy, meets fellow academic Dr Penny Cartwright at a faculty flute recital. Dr Cartwright seems impossibly glamorous to Zoe, who is, after all, several rungs down the academic pecking order - and a nervous ingnue as far as Penny's sophisticated circle is concerned. But Penny leaves Zoe a cryptic note, and a passionate affair ensues. Once Penny confesses all to her live-in lover, Justine, their happiness seems assured. But there is something else Penny needs as badly in her life as Zoe's adoration, and thus the beginning of their affair might also have signalled its end. Praise for Charlotte Mendelson: 'A master at family drama' - The Times 'Mendelson's novels inhabit similar territory to those of Maggie O'Farrell, with the same capacity for extreme noticing, the same profound emotional intelligence' - The Observer

Reviews

Mendelson is a master of the literary monster . . . Even if you've never read another of her novels (do), you can sense the years of whittling behind her, so utterly in control is she of her style * The Sunday Times *
[A] bravura portrait of a marriage in meltdown . . . Charlotte Mendelson is among the greatest villain-creators of contemporary fiction * The Guardian *
A clever, lacerating account of coercive control . . . a finely executed novel * Financial Times *
Mendelsons last novel was the brilliant The Exhibitionist with the appalling Ray Hanrahan featuring as one of the worst fictional husbands ever. Mendelson clearly has a talent for writing noxious spouses, as Penny Cartwright in this latest book is possibly even worse. The toxic atmosphere could be hard to take if it wasnt at the same time so funny and acutely observed. It is notably brilliant on Londons lesbian tribes. * The Standard *
[A] gripping take on how to exit a troublesome marriage that made me howl with laughter and reel with horror -- Alex Clark * Times Literary Supplement *

Author Bio

Charlotte Mendelson's previous novel, The Exhibitionist, was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and was Novel of the Year 2022 in The Times as well as a book of the year in The Guardian and Good Housekeeping. Her other novels include Almost English, which was longlisted for both the Man Booker and the Women's Prize for Fiction; When We Were Bad, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and was a book of the year in The Observer, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The New Statesman and The Spectator; Daughters of Jerusalem, which won both the Somerset Maugham Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize; and Love in Idleness. Wife is her sixth novel.