The Dream Wife by Louisa de Lange #blogtour

I'm delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for the debut novel by Louisa de Lange. Thank you to Louisa and the publisher for my review copy, and to Tracy Fenton for inviting me to take part in the tour.

The Blurb:

Annie is the dream wife.

Mother to two-year-old Johnny and wife to David, she is everything her husband expects her to be - supportive, respectful and mild - but what he expects isn't who she truly is.

Annie is a prisoner in her home.

Her finances, her routine, her social life are all controlled by him. It's the love for her boy that she lives for, and at night she dreams of a world where she is free.

But Annie is going to fight back.

And you won't believe how she is going to do it . . .

The Dream Wife is published by Orion, and was released on 31st October 2018.

You can purchase it from Waterstones, Amazon UK and US, and other good bookshops. 

My Review:

Gosh, where to start? This is an extraordinary book, and I found myself lost as to what was real and what wasn't in the story. And it went in a totally unexpected direction.

From the outside, Annie seems to be the dream wife living a dream life. But actually nothing could be further from the truth. Apart from her beautiful little boy, there is no joy in her life. So she dreams, and dreams, and then dreams of what life might be like without her husband David.

David is an utterly vile man, and I absolutely detested him. With a passion. He's my second most hated book character ever. And when a character arouses this amount of emotion in me, good or bad, I know he or she has been very well written.

David controls every single aspect of Annie's life, except the time she has alone with her son, assuming all the chores are done. David has certain 'expectations' for how a wife should behave, and what she should do for her husband, and there is trouble if Annie doesn't meet those 'expectations.' That on its own constitutes domestic violence, but there is so much more than that, and this forms an important part of the story.

Complicit in this abuse of Annie is David's mother Maggie, as it is her who has instilled these skewed values in her son. She belittles Annie, and fully endorses her son's behaviour.

There is so much else I want to say, but don't want to give anything away about the story. My heart broke for Annie, and wee Johnny, who is largely ignored by his father. I am still thinking about the book, and to be honest still trying to work it out. As I mentioned in my opening, this book plays with reality. I read it initially thinking, 'Right, I've got this', then something would happen, and it was 'Oh wait, hang on...' I questioned (still am) so many things!

The fact that I'm confused doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it - far from it! It's a real page turned - I read it in a day because I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I thought it was brilliantly written, there are several OMG moments, and so much to think about and mull over. It would be perfect for a book group, as there are so many questions and discussion points.

This is the author's first novel, and it's a strong and confident debut. I'm excited to see what she comes up with next!

The Author:

Louisa de Lange