Book Review - A Reliable Wife

Book #2 - A Reliable Wife.

My friend, Laura, suggested this book to me.  She says it is one she has read two times and she never reads a book a second time.  I figured it had to be good. 

I was not disappointed.

I'd easily give this 4 1/2 out of 5 stars and I'd have a copy on my bookshelf to loan out and read again and again. 

It is set in rural Wisconsin, in the dead of winter in 1907.  The main character, Ralph Truitt writes an ad for a reliable wife and Catherine Land responds.  After a somewhat slow start to the book, the words come alive.  The author writes about love and marriage, with all of it complexity.  I was most surprised with all the references to sex, with its physical and emotional connections.  I didn't expect this angle at all and was fascinated how the author weaved the theme throughout the book, without it feeling trashy.  This book is not a Fabio-romance novel.  It is complex and beautiful and will grip you.  I typically flip to the back of the book to find out how it ends.  I like to know if I have predicted it correctly or not.  In this book, I predicted correctly how it would end but how the author brings you to the end cannot predicted. 

Should you read it?  Yes. 

It may not seem like a summer read but it is a short book and was quite easy to read over a day or two.