Book Review: The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell
Once upon a time there was a man named Adrian Wolfe. He became enamored with lovely Susie, and had two children with his new bride, Cat and Luke. Then lovely Caroline caught his eye and Adrian did not come home much. Adrian left Susie to marry Caroline, and he had three children with his second bride, Otis, Pearl, and Beau. But a new temporary employee joined his workers at his business, named Maya. And lovely Maya caught Adrian's attention, and soon Caroline saw her husband come home later and later every day. Adrian left Caroline and his children for Maya, marrying for the third time. But Adrian believed that he could take his three families and amalgamate them into one large family. Little did he know that his world was about to be turned upside down...
The Third Wife is written by Lisa Jewell, and is published by Atria Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. In it we are introduced to Maya Wolfe one cold early morning, as she stumbles drunk down Charing Cross Road in London. She is a woman on the edge, and her personal demons are out this morning. She lurches forward, taking in all the sights she sees, including a bright light heading towards her. And minutes later Maya lies dead in the road, having been hit by a night bus.
Her husband, Adrian, is beside himself with grief. He lives for months in his small home with Maya's cat, Billie. Unshaven, thin, and inconsolable, Adrian decides the time to move on has come. He hangs an advertisement in the local post office for someone to adopt Billie. This brings Jane into his life. She is young, pretty, and gets along with Billie rather fast. But Jane is nosy. Jane asks a lot of questions, but not about the cat. She wonders of his family, even reading the message board he uses to keep track of his two families. He is suspicious, but she is lovely. After returning a second time she decides that Billie would best serve as a companion for Adrian and leaves. He sees her once after that while out for Pearl's birthday. Later on Adrian texts Jane to say that it was good to see her, only to find her phone in his sofa.
Strange things begin to surface, including information that Jane was at one of Pearl's sporting lessons watching her. Poison emails directed at Maya are found. And the phone that was found in his sofa turns out to belong to another woman altogether. Who is this Jane, and why is she stalking the Wolfe family? Who sent the hateful messages? And was Maya's death an accident, or was she driven to suicide? The secret life of Adrian Wolfe's third wife is about to be known.
The Third Wife was a riveting narrative of family drama and secrets. From the first few pages I wanted to know what had caused Maya to walk in front of a bus at three o'clock in the morning. As I began to dig deeper into Maya's story (cleverly delivered with a personal narrative), I began to grow more and more suspicious of those around her. I needed to know who wrote the emails. I was intrigued by the Wolfe's twisty family history. And most of all I was living to know who Jane really was. Lisa Jewell has a knack for writing excellent stories of family drama and suspense. Here she uses her skills to offer up a family so complicated and riddled with guilt, that no one seemed innocent. The children in particular tugged at my heart a few times, with Jewell exposing what having a parent leaving really does to kids. She gave the Wolfe kids a voice and I thank her for that.
I read this novel in part with the amazing narration of actor, Joe Jameson. He had an even voice that left the story balancing on emotion and a sense of urgency. His transition between character voices never left me confused, and I enjoyed his presentation a lot.
In the end the Third Wife was a four star read for me. I was never bored during this book, and I enjoyed the ensemble cast of Wolfe family members. The mystery surrounding Maya Wolfe was more than I expected, and the reveal of the author of the hateful emails had me reeling. Once again I finish a Lisa Jewell novel that I cannot stop thinking of.
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