Literary Wives is an on-line book group that examines the meaning and role of wife in different books. Four times a year, we post and discuss a book with this question in mind:
What does this book say about wives or about the experience of being a wife?
Don’t forget to check out the other members of Literary Wives to see what they have to say about the book!
- Kay at What Me Read
- Rebecca at Bookish Beck
- Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best
Goodreads synopsis: When Alice Hale leaves a career in publicity to become a writer and follows her husband to the New York suburbs, she is unaccustomed to filling her days alone in a big, empty house. But when she finds a vintage cookbook buried in a box in the old home’s basement, she becomes captivated by the cookbook’s previous owner–1950s housewife Nellie Murdoch. As Alice cooks her way through the past, she realizes that within the cookbook’s pages Nellie left clues about her life–including a mysterious series of unsent letters penned to her mother. Soon Alice learns that while baked Alaska and meatloaf five ways may seem harmless, Nellie’s secrets may have been anything but. When Alice uncovers a more sinister–even dangerous–side to Nellie’s marriage, and has become increasingly dissatisfied with the mounting pressures in her own relationship, she begins to take control of her life and protect herself with a few secrets of her own.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
What I like about this book is the dual timeline. There’s Alice in the present who has just reluctantly moved out of her cramped Manhattan apartment into this big house in the suburbs. Alice starts out pessimistically, but the place starts to grow on her. And there’s Nellie in the 1950s, who has also just moved into this house as a newlywed and has a more optimistic view of it until her husband begins to show his true colours. These two timelines echo each other nicely.
I also enjoyed the sinister nature the story took on – it was a pleasant surprise.
What does this book say about wives or about the experience of being a wife?
Nellie: Nellie was happy enough to marry Richard; he doted on her before they married. But once they tied the knot, Richard became abusive and controlling. Unless Nellie was pregnant. But, by then, Nellie no longer wanted to be pregnant; she wanted out of her marriage. Because this wasn’t really an option for her, as her mother had died and Nellie had no one to turn to, she took things into her own hands. When I realized what was happening, I was (horrifyingly) cheering Nellie on. (It’s just a book though, right?) Nellie’s experience as a wife was a classic case of bad husband. She had to hide her feelings about it, though, from all her neighbours, so as not to anger Richard more, but also so as not to give away her desperate plan.
“He didn’t deserve her decency, but he expected it. Even in pain, Nellie understood her role–the wife who bowed to her husband, who apologized for things out of her control, who made his life easier even if it made hers harder. The perfect wife.”
The expectations in this marriage are not shared between Richard and Nellie; Richard wants to be the boss and he wants Nellie to do what he says. Nellie’s unhappy with this arrangement and the marriage does not go well for either of them.
Alice: Alice’s experience as a wife is not as straight forward. At the beginning of the book, Alice and Nate are madly in love. Their easy relationship changes when they buy a house in the suburbs that Alice isn’t really keen on, but she doesn’t want to rain on Nate’s parade. Especially since she’s been keeping quiet about the details behind the departure from her job. “Things had been tense these last few months, which Alice accepted was entirely her doing. So she was the one who had to make the sacrifice, even if it meant subscribing to a life that felt alien.” Nate takes the opportunity of their new lifestyle to suggest it might be a great time to start a family. (Here’s a good family home in the suburbs with a nice yard, and you, Alice, can stay at home and write that book you’ve been talking about.) That’s a lot of change to process all at once. Alice gives it a go, but doesn’t communicate her feelings of doubt with Nate; instead she pretends to be doing fine and to be working away at her book. The lies and resentment start building up. But then Alice makes friends with her neighbour and starts baking for their daily coffee dates. She also discovers old magazines, photos, and letters from the woman who used to live in the house which intrigue her and inspire ideas for her book. In the meantime, Alice has decided she’s not ready for a baby and begins using contraceptives without telling Nate. She intends to tell him, but the right time just doesn’t ever seem to present itself, and she doesn’t want Nate to know she’s been lying about it. Besides, Nate is busy; he is studying late into the night after working all day. Alice is beginning to wonder if things aren’t much different for women since the 1950s. And, if she’s keeping things from him, what might he be keeping from her? Things blow up, everything comes to light, and they tentatively move forward. Things are not the same between them but they are hopeful they can get past this episode in their marriage.
The expectations of Alice and Nate are honesty and openness and an equal partnership. When these expectations are no longer met, Alice wonders if they have had the same expectations all along? If not, can they set things right? Is it reasonable to expect that marriages might have to go through re-negotiations as things change? What does an equal partnership look like at different stages of a marriage? The reader is left not knowing what happens between them, and can imagine it going either way. Their story highlights how easy it is to go from good to bad in a marriage when the expectations the marriage is built on are false or change for one partner but not the other.
Question for the other Literary Wives: What do you think it means that Alice put the foxglove back into the garden?
Join us in September for Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston!
Consumed by Ink 
That image of the woman in the red dress — change it to green and frame it differently and it’s the same photo that’s on the cover of the UK edition of Mrs. March, our previous book! That’s a satisfying coincidence 🙂
I loved the foxglove detail! You could think of it as a subtle threat (I pointed to ours the other day and said to my husband, “watch out I don’t serve you a herb mix!”) or, more symbolically, as her reminding Nate that life is full of risks and we can’t erase them (like when he pulled up all the plants), only live with them as best we can.
It was really sad how Alice and Nate kept piling on the secrets and didn’t trust each other with anything. I can’t see their marriage recovering. That situation was more wrenching to me, whereas Richard is just evil and so we feel he gets what he deserves.
I agree. Alice and Nate falling apart was really sad. Partly because it was preventable!
At least Nate has the advantage of knowing there’s a poisonous plant in the garden. But will he wonder about it every time he eats something Alice cooks? Lol
I assumed putting the foxglove back into the garden meant she was holding it for reserve. However, we have foxglove growing naturally in our wild backyard, and I’m not planning on slipping it to anyone. It’s pretty! I didn’t realize until I read this that you’re not even supposed to touch it, though. We weed whack patches of it down and I don’t think we’ve worried about touching it (although we usually wear gloves when working outside).
I agree with Rebecca that I can’t see Alice and Nate’s marriage surviving. I’m not so sure that Nellie didn’t have any other options than the one she took, though.
It certainly did seem pretty dire at the end of the book, didn’t it? But I hold out hope for them!
I couldn’t remember if she knew about the foxglove when she decided to put it back in the garden? I had no idea it was toxic at all!
Oh, we knew that. I can’t remember when she put it back in, frankly.
My parents married in 1950, though in rural Australia rather than suburban NY, I imagine there’s a difference. Mum’s still going and gets through a lot of library books so I’m sorry I didn’t introduce her to literary wives club for this book, though she wouldn’t let on if she had ‘foxglove’ in reserve.
Milly and I got together in 1978, and for all that Milly mostly kept working, the dynamics of our marriage and mum and dad’s were not as different as I might have hoped – the men bossing, the women homemaking – until of course, Milly got sick of it!
What does an equal partnership look like? That’s the question. I expected Milly to speak up, she expected me to act in our best interests not just mine.
Is the next generation any better? Well our daughter seems to take the bossy role.
“What does an equal partnership look like” is the question. I’m thinking it’s different for everyone, which is probably why it’s so hard to get it right. I also think it probably changes over time.
It seems like it’s getting better. Just not for everyone.
I bet your mum has lots of interesting stories to tell!
It’s interesting to note that if Alice and Nate’s expectations were around openness and trust, that was destroyed when Alice decided not to reveal her work situations… which makes me wonder why she was already lacking trust/ confidence in Nate ie. assuming he wouldn’t respond appropriately to what had happened!
As for the foxglove… not sure who it was meant for next… Served to Nate’s colleague?!
I wondered the same thing at the time… Why didn’t Alice tell him about work? What did she think he would say/do/think? And then that’s why she didn’t speak up about the move – she felt guilty for hiding the truth about work. It was so frustrating to read about it and not have a say! Lol
Yes, Nate’s colleague! Ha!
I much prefer the Canadian cover for this one (although that could just be familiarity, the one we see on shelves and media all the time). It’s one that I still have vaguely on my TBR, but I dunno if I’ll ever actually read it, cuz I kinda know how things go (no fault of yours, you’re always super careful of spoilers, I don’t remember how I heard).
There are usually spoilers in my LW posts because I think of them as a book club meeting. It makes it much easier (and more fun) to write what I think about the book. However, I do always include the warning.
I know what you mean… when I already know how something is going to go it takes some of the fun and interest out of it.
I don’t think this is a book I’d like to read, but it seems to offer much in the way of discussion! The 1950s part would stress me out too much, I think.
It really is a good one for book clubs – there’s lots to talk about! But there’s no sense in reading something that might stress you out when there are so many other books to read! 🙂
I remember reading this book when it came out, and really enjoying it. It’s a very unique way of exploring marriages, which is why I liked it so much. It also made me want to try making a Baked Alaska!
Did you make it?!
I remember you reviewing this one – it’s probably the reason I wanted to add it to our list. 🙂
I did not! haha still haven’t gotten up the courage…