The mad wife : [Large Print] a novel / Meagan Church.

By:

Church, Meagan [author.]

Material type: Text

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9781420534559
1420534556

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Summary: "In the 1950s, nothing is valued more than conformity, and Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the ideal housewife. But after the birth of her daughter, Lulu's carefully constructed life begins to teeter. Exhausted by expectations and haunted by tragic memories, Lulu looks to her new neighbor, Bitsy. Bitsy, always the model of a perfect housewife, is not quite what she seems and Lulu knows something dark lurks beneath Bitsy's constant smile. Increasingly fixated on Bitsy and her perfectly crafted life, Lulu's mental state begins to fracture, and memories she had suppressed long ago begin to rise to the surface. Soon, Lulu is forced to confront the possibility that she might be headed down a path much darker than she could ever foresee. Set against the backdrop of a post-war era defined by tradition and constrained femininity, The Mad Wife weaves together a coming-of-age search for identity with a psychological drama so poignant, you won't be able to put it down."-- Provided by publisher.

List(s) this item appears in: New Large Print Additions

Average rating: 5.0 (1 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Large Type Collection	New Books	LT CHU	Available		36748002656413

Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From bestselling author Meagan Church comes a haunting exploration of identity, motherhood, and the suffocating grip of societal expectations that will leave you questioning the lives we build--and the lies we live.

They called it hysteria. She called it survival.

Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the perfect 1950s housewife. Despite the tragic memories that haunt her and the weight of exhausting expectations, she keeps her husband happy, her household running, and her gelatin salads the talk of the neighborhood. But after she gives birth to her second child, Lulu's carefully crafted life begins to unravel.

When a new neighbor, Bitsy, moves in, Lulu suspects that something darker lurks behind the woman's constant smile. As her fixation on Bitsy deepens, Lulu is drawn into a web of unsettling truths that threaten to expose the cracks in her own life. The more she uncovers about Bitsy, the more she questions everything she thought she knew--and soon, others begin questioning her sanity. But is Lulu truly losing her mind? Or is she on the verge of discovering a reality too terrifying to accept?

In the vein of The Bell Jar and The Hours , The Mad Wife weaves domestic drama with psychological suspense, so poignant and immersive, you won't want to put it down.

"In the 1950s, nothing is valued more than conformity, and Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the ideal housewife. But after the birth of her daughter, Lulu's carefully constructed life begins to teeter. Exhausted by expectations and haunted by tragic memories, Lulu looks to her new neighbor, Bitsy. Bitsy, always the model of a perfect housewife, is not quite what she seems and Lulu knows something dark lurks beneath Bitsy's constant smile. Increasingly fixated on Bitsy and her perfectly crafted life, Lulu's mental state begins to fracture, and memories she had suppressed long ago begin to rise to the surface. Soon, Lulu is forced to confront the possibility that she might be headed down a path much darker than she could ever foresee. Set against the backdrop of a post-war era defined by tradition and constrained femininity, The Mad Wife weaves together a coming-of-age search for identity with a psychological drama so poignant, you won't be able to put it down."-- Provided by publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Lulu Mayfield is a 1950s housewife who seems to have it all. Her husband is a successful architect, their son is thriving, and the whole neighborhood recognizes Lulu as the queen of molded gelatin salads. Yet Lulu is exhausted and yearns for more than a life spent following the same Good Housekeeping-recommended cleaning schedule as everyone else and putting her lipstick on by 10 a.m. without fail. Her strange behavior and unwillingness to keep up appearances begin to alarm both her husband and her friends. When an eccentric new neighbor moves in across the street, Lulu becomes obsessed. In a world that prizes conformity, what dangers await women who dare to stand out? In her latest, Church (The Girls We Sent Away) again explores the fates of women who transgress societal norms, vividly capturing how claustrophobic a neighborhood can feel when every misstep becomes fodder for gossip and judgment. VERDICT In a gripping novel that's both emotionally compelling and suspenseful, Church keeps readers guessing about just how reliable Lulu is as a narrator while also exploring her loved ones' and doctors' woefully misguided responses to her deep pain.--Mara Bandy Fass

Booklist Review

Lulu Mayfield is just trying to hold it together as a 1950s suburban housewife amid expectations as rigid as her famed gelatin desserts and as monotonous as her green stamps--a life very different from her rural upbringing. After giving birth to her second child, she becomes obsessed with and later horrified by the new neighbors across the street. As she starts to spiral, she worries what lengths her husband will go to in order to bring her to heel, and only finds solace in sharing her insomnia with a (possibly) stray cat. She can't trust her friends, her husband, or the doctor foisted upon her--and maybe not even herself--until the threat of a lobotomy becomes all too real. The tension in Church's latest (after The Girls We Sent Away, 2024) is palpable, with perfectly timed twists in this nod to Sylvia Plath. Book clubs will find much to discuss about the unattainable expectations placed on women throughout history, the lengths that grief and isolation will take us to, and the fact that mental health cannot be separated from general health.