⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5 stars, rounded up)
The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth is the kind of book that pulls you in quickly and keeps the pages turning. I read (and listened to) it while under the weather, and it made the time fly—which says a lot. Hepworth’s writing style is smooth and engaging, with just enough snark to make the characters’ dysfunction bearable.
The setup is pure domestic drama: an older man divorces his wife—who has dementia—to marry a much younger woman. That plot point alone left me horrified. The whole “in sickness and in health” part of the vows? Completely ignored. And what’s worse, no one in the story really challenges it.
The women in the book are complicated and sometimes hard to like. Tully, in particular, grated on my nerves. There’s also an over-the-top amount of drinking, which started to feel like a lazy stand-in for emotional depth.
Still, I was hooked. The pacing is tight, and the twists keep coming. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely entertaining. I’d give it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the clever structure and compulsive readability.
** Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a review copy. The opinions are my own.