A darkly funny feminist debut about a resentful stay-at-home wife and her vindictive marriage therapist
Revenge is in session.
Eliza Sheridan is at her wits’ end with her husband, Richard. Not only did he uproot her and their daughter Mara’s lives for his career, but he also hasn’t honored the one thing he promised before moving to Dublin: that he’d make more time for his wife and daughter.
So when Eliza receives an anonymous photo of Richard with another woman, she’s just about ready to file for divorce. As a last resort, she pays a visit to a marriage therapist, Ms. Early, who Eliza quickly learns is a bit…alternative in her approach. As their sessions unfold, Ms. Early spurs her on to commit a series of vengeful acts against Richard—each more bizarre than the last—all in the name of “re-training” her husband. But when therapy takes a risky turn, suspicions grow and alliances shift… How far is Eliza willing to go to save her marriage?
My thoughts: This was very funny, in a very dark way. Eliza carries out the strange Ms Early’s “therapy” techniques, while also getting sucked into the world of the “Chickadees” as she calls the group of mothers at her daughter’s school.
Her husband Richard is a bit odd, remote and distant, controlling but in a way that she hasn’t even really noticed until someone points it out. She’s obsessed with her daughter’s safety, to a slightly ridiculous degree – literally spending her days in a cafe across from the school playground just in case.
As things progress, instead of growing closer, she and Richard appear to be growing apart, she’s received an anonymous photo of him with another woman and has taken to spying on him, trying to catch him out. Who is Lady Languish in his diary?
Eliza is deeply unhappy, she misses her concert pianist career, even if she’s reluctant to admit it, she’s still reeling from loss, estranged from her family. Ms Early exploits that, manipulating her, much as Richard does. I liked Eliza, she badly needed a good friend – not the yummy mummies at the school, but someone like George (another mum at the school), who despite complaining about her husband and kids, is actually very happy with her life and tells Eliza the truth.
Richard is pretty awful, gaslighting and controlling Eliza since they met, he dictates where they live, what she does, the money she spends, belittling her in subtle ways, jealous of her talent and previous success.
This isn’t a happy book, it’s a marriage in free fall, and a woman on the edge after all, but it is compelling reading, a clever and enjoyable book.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 