Wife

'Crackles with female fire and fury' – The Guardian'A bravura portrait of a marriage in meltdown' – The Observer'Fast and furious' – The Sunday TimesWife, the gripping new novel from the prize-winning author of The Exhibitionist, is a nail-biting portrait of the beginning - and the end - of a rollercoaster marriage.When Zoe Stamper first catches the eye of the sophisticated Dr Penny Cartwright, she thinks her life has changed for the better. Entering into a relationship with an older woman introduces Zoe to a world she previously thought unreachable. Their love story begins.Now married with two children, Zoe is sick of living a lie. On the outside she's a loving and beloved wife, but inside she's a nervous wreck. She knows she must escape this secret darkness, but how?Moving between the beginning and the end of Zoe's marriage, Wife brilliantly conveys the horror, humour and suspense of a midlife bid for freedom.'A terrific panic attack of a novel' – i newspaper'Lacerating' – Financial Times'Unbearably brilliant' – Nigella Lawson'A gift to the reader . . . Irresistible' – Amy Bloom, bestselling author of In Love'Compelling' – Glamour'Truly radical' – The Spectator

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; and Daughters of Jerusalem, which won both the Somerset Maugham Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Wife is her sixth novel.