Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton (one of my favourite publishers) and NetGalley for this eARC of "The Younger Wife" by Sally Hepworth.

I didnt know what to expect by the cover and the factor that Sally Hepworth writes thrillers. But I did enjoy this read! The whole story of the girls going through life and the consistent abuser getting killed felt like some karma. I hated Stephen - which was brilliant storytelling especially as he was abusive and deceitful throughout the tale. I enjoyed the alternating POVs and felt it worked perfectly with the story. My only qualm was the ending, it felt empty in comparison to the rest of Hepworth's story.

I really really enjoyed this book!

I thought it was a clever, realistic portrayal of family life, trauma and the embodiment that no one ever leaves childhood unscarred.

I could really relate to all 3 main (female!) characters and it always helps me to enjoy the book more and more.

I wish there was more of it! I will surely be coming back for more of Sally Hepworth's work!

Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC!

First of all, thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this ARC! This review is written voluntarily by me.

In the first place, I want to read this story because I want to know what Tully and Rachel going to do when they know that their father wants to marry Heather while their mother is still in the care facility. Readers will know that something bad will happened at the wedding when during the prologue. This story is mainly told from Heather, Tully, and Rachel's POVs. These characters have their own secrets and struggles and how they cope and solve them. For me, the plot is nicely written and the writing style suits me, making the read quite easy and engaging.

This book begins with the wedding of a wealthy heart surgeon, Stephen Aston, and his new and "younger wife," Heather Wisher. His two adult daughters, Tully and Rachel, are at the altar, along with their mother and Stephen's ex-wife, Pam, who has dementia. A scream rings out, and Pam is seen holding a candlestick over her head, so we assume someone has been killed. ⁠
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This was my first Sally Hepworth novel and, overall, a fun read! I always enjoy a story that keeps me guessing! This was intriguing and packed with "family secrets." I also really liked all of the female characters - I only wish they didn't all second-guess themselves! Surely one of them could have gotten to the bottom of things before someone was murdered!

This book was an absolute joy to read. A proper page turner that kept you guessing until the absolute end.

Great characters and a story told with real aplomb and a skill that Hepworth has in spades.

I laughed, I cried and I pleaded for more....

Highly recommended, 5 stars from me.

The Aston’s have more than their fair share of problems in this family drama. The chapters are short and from all the main characters points of view, I found them interesting, complicated and in places funny. A good four star read

I did find this one hard to get into but once I was, I couldn't put it down. It was well written with a gripping and intriguing storyline and well developed characters. I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this. A good family drama makes your family dramas feel a bit more normal. The mysterious characters and the way alziemers was betrayed was a real science lesson..

The Younger Wife ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When Rachel and Tully’s father announces he is getting married to a Heather, a woman could easily pass as their sister they are none too pleased, especially as their mother is still alive but suffering from dementia.

However, as the sisters get to know Heather, as well as facing up to their own demons and unearthing some family secrets, they discover things are not what they appear to be.

I love Hepworth’s suburban thrillers and this has replaced The Mother In Law as my new favourite of hers, if you’re yet to discover her books I’d urge you to pick one up asap, especially if you’re a fan of Liane Moriarty 👍

Thank you to @netgalley and @hodderbooks for the digital ARC of the book

The opening scene of this book opens with the wedding of Stephen to his (much) younger bride Heather, while his ex-wife, currently suffeirng with Alzheimers, and two grown-up daughters are also in attendance. All the main characters go back to sign the registry, but when the celebrant appears covered in blood and shouting for an ambulance, we are then taken back to the moment our 3 main narrators meet.

Succesful cardiac surgeon Stephen is meeting his daughters Tully and Rachel for lunch with a plan to introduce his new, very close to their age fiancé Heather. As shocked as they are that their Dad is marrying someone so much younger than himself, they also have the added issue of their Mum, Pam, who is in a home suffering with Alzheimers.

All three ladies have their own issues, and as we are shown each side of this complicated tale leasing up to the wedding, memories and forgotten events come to the fore. They then need to work out what is true and decide what to do about them.

This book covers a lot of serious subjects, maybe a few too many, as some were given much more focus than others and that felt a little uneven to me, and I am still not convinced about the ending!

@currentlyreading__
Book 28 of 2022

Thank you to @hodderbooks, @netgalley and @sallyhepworth for the e-ARC of 'The Younger Wife'. This is the first time I have read anything by Hepworth and I am happy to say there's many more of her books I can load onto my Kindle.

'The Younger Wife' is an Australian suburban domestic drama following the lives of sisters Rachel and Tully who discover that their father, respected heart surgeon Stephen, is about to marry someone younger than his daughters whilst still very much married to their mother Pam who is a resident in a care facility after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's.

The opening chapter is a stunner of a hook! At the wedding of Stephen and Heather, his much younger bride, an unnamed narrator recounts the frenetic activity culminating in a scream and then a shout for an ambulance to be called. Unsure of who the narrator is and indeed who the injured party is, the scene is set to lead us gently to this event as the narrative moves back in time.

After Heather meets her future step daughters, the book has three POVs and each of their stories are heartfelt but interspersed with dark humour. Topics are weighty from sexual abuse, addiction, financial crisis, domestic violence to name only four but each dealt with sensitively by Hepworth. It is not your typical domestic drama - this dysfunctional family are holding their own dark secrets but there's also the secret at the heart of the book, the mystery that we, as the readers, are aiming to solve. Is Stephen who he seems to be?

A must-read if, like me, you love a domestic drama, some gritty subjects and suspense. I loved the book and am eager to read all of Hepworth's other books now.


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The Younger Wife is the seventh novel by best-selling Australian author, Sally Hepworth. When heart surgeon Stephen Aston’s daughters first meet his new girlfriend, Heather Wishing, they’re expecting a gold-digger of the first order. It’s true that Heather is younger than either Tully or Rachel, but more shocking still is that Stephen plans to marry Heather even as their mother, his current wife, Pamela, in the grip of Alzheimer’s, languishes in a secure care facility.

Stephen is anxious that his fiancée gets on well with his daughters, who are somewhat torn between loyalty to a mother who often no longer recognises them, and the happiness of their loving father. Heather tries very hard, and the sisters actually have trouble finding fault with their prospective step-mother, but then, they are each dealing with some major life issues.

Heather, despite her youth, turns out to be very perceptive, recognising Rachel’s shameful secret almost instantly, perhaps because she has a few of her own. As it turns out, all the major players in this story harbour fairly significant secrets that, in a family whose members never really considered it dysfunctional, ought to have been shared long ago.

The main story is carried by an alternating triple narrative from the perspectives of Tully, Rachel and Heather that begins when the three women first meet. This is interspersed with the (initially) anonymous observations, a year on, of a guest at Stephen and Heather’s wedding, an occasion that culminates in screams and the summoning of ambulance and police.

Hepworth packs a lot into her novel: a winter/spring love affair, a devastating financial loss due to failed investment, dementia, kleptomania, an over-anxious toddler, sexual assault, a business casualty of COVID, a mystery woman, domestic violence, coercive control and gaslighting, and a hot water bottle filled with a lot of cash.

Even as she injects occasional doses of black humour, Hepworth’s portrayal of dementia is sensitive and authentic. She gives one character an insight into why women fail to report sexual assault: “Perhaps the murky cocktail of shame and horror and disgust that [she] was feeling was the same one that muzzled them all?”

For one aspect of the story, she skilfully drip-feeds each little morsel of information to the reader so that they first draw firm conclusions and then begin to second-guess themselves, closing with a deliciously ambiguous ending that will give book clubs hours of discussion. A compelling, thought-provoking contemporary family drama.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton.

Sally Hepworth has a great writing style that draws you in and keeps your attention. I loved the Younger Wife as the characters were believable and multi-faceted.

The book does cover a lot of topics which maybe could have been spread over more stories. But also show the reality of life and how trauma often attracts trauma.

The book will make you question who is a fault, is Stephen and abuser or is Heather an unreliable witness?

The dementia element of the story adds another layer of complexity and unreliability.

I enjoyed Rachel’s storyline the most and loved the character of Darcy.

The ending was good but I wasn’t sure what news Pamela was referring to in the penultimate paragraph?

A chilling end to a complex story.

Well, Sally Hepworth has done it again, producing yet another gripping domestic thriller full of teasing intrigue, flawed, relatable characters, and a gently fizzing plot that both surprises and delights.

The story opens at a wedding, with an unidentified narrator describing the nuptials of esteemed heart surgeon Stephen and his much younger bride Heather. Among the guests are dementia-afflicted, first wife Pam and their two 30-something daughters, Tully and Rachel. An awkward situation for sure, but all appears to be going swimmingly. Until, that is, screams and calls for an ambulance allude to some tragic event playing out in the sacristy.

Eek! What a brilliant opening! Hepworth dangles this scenario in front of us and then vexingly cuts it dead. Who? What? Why? The questions rush in, but in typical Hepworth fashion, there will be no answers until the very last chapter.

Talk about a page turner!

What follows is a fully absorbing, multi-POV narrative, feeding in the stories of Heather, Tully and Rachel from the first time they meet, until the big day. All are fascinating, complex creatures, with insecurities, quirks and dark pasts that they’ve tried to keep under wraps. Each one has her own beautifully fashioned character arc, but as their stories intertwine, they must face a devastating truth that affects them all. And it’s a doozie!

I have to say, I just adore Hepworth’s brand of domestic noire. It’s measured and understated, rather than a heart-stopping rollercoaster. It’s all about the characters, who never fail to spark a response. And her writing is just sublime.

More of the same please. Soon as.

Unpopular opinion overall.

I read other books by the author and really enjoyed them.

The younger wife, though, went over the top with many topics/issues for my liking and enjoyment in here. I know that maybe that’s why this is a must read story because it will bring so many questions to be discussed and shared.

I can’t go over the fact that while we really want more reliable stories in our life, there are some that make me feel so bad for actually promoting patriarchy and how the men are perfect and everyone still believes and follows their demands. All while the women in his life are just normal and stupid and I don’t even know how to name it anymore.

Kleptomania, Alzheimer's disease, the creepiness of having your adult daughter as bridesmaids while you marry a woman that has the same age as them… so many other unbelievable things…

Yes, it’s great written and keeps you intrigued by the overall plot because you want to know what’s happening in here, but I won’t say that I actually enjoyed this book.

Tully and Rachel find out their father Stephen plans to divorce their mother and marry heather his new girlfriend their age but Tully and Rachel don’t trust why heather would want to marry their father instead of someone her own age their mother Pam has dementia and doesn’t remember them and is in a nursing home
Started of abut slow but soon livened up and I couldn’t put it down
Thank you sally Hepworth for a truly enjoyable read this is the first book I have read of yours and I can’t wait to read more of your books

It's a page turner, disturbing and gripping at the same time. It's one of those book you start and can't stop reading even if you dislike the characters and it drives you to some very dark places.
The author did an excellent job in developing plot and characters. I wasn't in love with the ending but I think it's a gripping read.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This book is one to look out for as I thought it would be a light quick read but it was anything but that, it was a rollercoaster and so enjoyable and a real good psychological thriller about a very dysfunctional family but persistence does pay off in the end …

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This book is about a family, who are civilised but not as civil as they first thought. Stephen is the father, who is married to Pam, and they have two daughters, Rachel and Tully. Rachel and Tully are grown up, and Pam has dementia. And it comes as a shock when Stephen announces he is divorcing Pam, and marrying a much younger woman, called Heather.

The story seems straight forward, but it becomes clear that each member of the family are hiding secrets.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing is always brilliant in books by this author. The characters were very relatable, and the author dealt with some issues that can be taboo such as Kleptomania. I was quite sad to finish the book, just so I could see how the characters got on in life, I was pretty invested in them. This author always offers a story that is twisty and turny, with surprises thrown in. I would highly recommend.

A great psychological and tense domestic thriller.
Stephen Aston a successful surgeon is getting married , there is a problem because he is still married to Pam who has Alzheimer’s , but that’s a quick fix as he will divorce her.
Tully and Rachel are Stephen and Pam’s daughters and they are not really happy about their fathers marriage to a wife who is basically in the same age range as themselves.
This book contains lots of themes including alcoholism, gaslighting , domestic violence and rape which makes it sound delightful doesn’t it? But
Hepworth and her calibre of writing makes the story so absorbing , that I turned the pages late in to the night.
The characters all have their flaws , but who doesn’t ? This is what makes the human race ,the story flows easily even though it alternates between the wedding day and periods before it.
There are also different narratives from the daughters and the wife to be which are easy to follow and flow effortlessly.
SallyHepworth is a master of her art and I am look forwarding to her next book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton.