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The Wife

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The Wife

By: Meg Wolitzer
Narrated by: Dawn Harvey
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About this listen

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Wife by Meg Wolitzer, read by Dawn Harvey.

A husband. A wife. A secret. Behind any great man, there’s always a greater woman.


Joe and Joan Castleman are on an aeroplane, 35,000 feet above the ocean. Joe is thinking about the prestigious literary prize he is about to receive and Joan is plotting how to leave him. For too long Joan has played the role of supportive wife, turning a blind eye to his misdemeanours, subjugating her own talents and quietly being the keystone of his success.

The Wife is an acerbic and astonishing take on a marriage from its public face to the private world behind closed doors. Wolitzer has masterfully created an expose of lives lived in partnership and the truth that behind the compromises, dedication and promise inherent in marriage there so often lies a secret...

©2015 Meg Wolitzer (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks
Family Life Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Marriage

Critic Reviews

Hilarious and touching (Erica Wagner)
It’s funny, and it’s brilliant, and I press it on everyone I know (Rachel Cooke)
A triumph of tone and observation, The Wife is a blithe, brilliant take on sexual politics (Lorrie Moore)
With a great lightness of touch, Wolitzer's novel satirises American literary circles of the Seventies and Eighties and traces the generation of wives who poured their own creative energies into "stoking the fires" of their husbands' reputations (Emma Hagestadt)

What listeners say about The Wife

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great book, narration ok

Loved the storyline.
I didn’t like the accent Joe was given however overall an enjoyable book.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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B Rated Narration (B for Baaaad!)

Did not like at all. Story was boring and the narration stereotypical. The worse book I’ve heard on Audible. Can’t imagine a movie based on this without embellishments. Book sounded like Joan’s reading of the first manuscript Joe gave her — AWFUL!

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