The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

The Younger Wife

by Sally Hepworth

'Another knockout - unputdownable and completely thrilling' TAYLOR JENKINS REID, bestselling author of Malibu Rising and Daisy Jones and the Six

'Smart, suspenseful, brimming with secrets. This is Sally Hepworth at her unputdownable best' KATE MORTON

'This beauty I read in a morning... Expect a lot of secrets and revelations' BELFAST TELEGRAPH

The moment she laid eyes on Heather Wisher, Tully knew this woman was going to destroy their lives.

Tully and Rachel Aston are murderous when they discover their father has a new girlfriend. The fact that Heather is half his age isn't even the most shocking part. Stephen is still married to their mother, who is in a care facility with end-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Announcing his plan to divorce and then remarry, the news of Stephen and Heather's engagement sets a chain a family implosion. With their mother unable to speak for herself, Tully and Rachel are determined to get to the truth about their family's secrets and what this new woman really wants.

Heather knows she has an uphill battle to win over Tully and Rachel, all the while carrying the burden of the secrets of her past. But, as it turns out, they are all hiding something.

A garage full of stolen goods. An old hot-water bottle stuffed with cash. A blood-soaked wedding. And that's only the beginning . . .

PRAISE FOR SALLY'S NOVELS:

'Completely compulsive' JANE HARPER

'Totally absorbing, brilliantly written and thoroughly enjoyable. An addictive, unputdownable read' Herald Sun
'Women's fiction at its finest' LIANE MORIARTY

'Clever, chilling and beautifully crafted' ADELE PARKS

'The characters are so beautifully drawn and it was an emotional read, but I couldn't put it down' HEIDI PARKS

'Sally demonstrates that you don't need outlandish situations and monstrous characters to write a thoroughly engrossing, suspenseful thriller, and her writing feels so effortless' EMMA CURTIS

'Cleverly plotted and completely compelling' NICOLA MORIARTY

Reviewed by Jeff Sexton on

5 of 5 stars

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What Is Reality? This is a phenomenal book that really brings forth the question: What is reality? In situations where you observe one thing but someone you trust says a completely different thing occurred - who can you trust and why? And what can happen if you trust the wrong person and/ or for the wrong reason? To me, this book worked quite well on all of these fronts.

Reading the other Goodreads reviews (briefly), it seems that there were massive edits in the ARC process. I can't speak to that. I can tell you that I originally downloaded the book way back in August 2021 - and only finished reading it nearly a full week after publication. (Such is the sheer volume of such reading I do.) I don't know if the back parts of the story - where apparently the subsequent editing was heaviest - were the edited versions or the original versions. What I *can* speak to is that *I* thoroughly enjoyed whichever edition of the story I read, and I thought this version did in fact work very well indeed.

But read the other reviews too. Read the book. And decide for yourself.

Very much recommended.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 10 April, 2022: Finished reading
  • 10 April, 2022: Reviewed