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Jane Corry

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My Husband's Wife: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Jane Corry (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.0 4,603 ratings

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“[A] must-read thriller . . . My Husband’s Wifehas an ending that will change the way you view marriage forever.” —Bustle

“If you loved Gone Girl and The Talented Mr. Ripley, you’ll love My Husband’s Wife. It’s got every thriller’s trifecta: love, marriage, and murder.” —Parade

“The novel’s plot is as provocative as its title.” —The Washington Post

From the bestselling author of The Dead Ex, a deliciously addictive psychological thriller about the powerful effects of little white lies on three intertwined lives--and when those secrets become deadly

When young lawyer Lily marries Ed, she’s determined to make a fresh start and leave the secrets of the past behind. But then she takes on her first murder case and meets Joe, a convicted murderer to whom Lily is strangely drawn—and for whom she will soon be willing to risk almost anything.

But Lily is not the only one with secrets. Her next-door neighbor Carla may be only nine, but she has already learned that secrets are powerful things. That they can get her whatever she wants.

When Lily finds Carla on her doorstep twelve years later, a chain of events is set in motion that can end only one way.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Full of twists and turns, [My Husband's Wife] draws you into its complicated world within the first chapter, and it doesn't let you go until you've turned the final page. Corry's talented storytelling and brilliant writing make even the most seemingly obvious aspects of the novel appear in surprising ways. A must-read book for fans of the kind of psychological thrillers that have been all the rage.”
–Bustle

"[My Husband's Wife] nicely fits into the psychological suspense genre that’s riding a slipstream of popularity, thanks to the success of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. . . Addictive. . . [a] seemingly unending trove of delicious disasters and deceits.”
--Washington Post

“If you loved Gone Girl and The Talented Mr. Ripley, you’ll love My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry. It’s got every thriller’s trifecta: love, marriage and murder.”
--Parade

"Brilliant, original and complex, with a dark triangle at its center. A compelling thriller that kept me turning the pages until the end."
--B.A. Paris, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors

"Lies fester and multiply, undermining intimate relationships in this psychological thriller. Corry's suspenseful debut novel is already a best-seller in the UK and is likely headed for similar success here."
--Booklist (starred review)

"A devilishly devious U.S. debut. . . this swiftly moving psychological thriller offers surprises right up to the finish."
--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Jane Corry is a writer and journalist and has spent time as the writer-in-residence of a high-security prison for men—an experience that helped inspire My Husband’s Wife, her debut thriller. Corry runs regular writing workshops and speaks at literary festivals worldwide, including the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy. Until recently, she was a tutor in creative writing at Oxford University.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

As I enter the gallery, I see the back of Ed’s head.

“Lily!” He swivels round, saying my name as though it is fresh in his mouth. As if I am an acquaintance he hasn’t seen for a long time instead of the wife he kissed good-bye this morning. “Guess who walked into the gallery an hour ago?”

As he speaks, a petite woman with a sleek black bob slides out from behind the pillar. Her hairstyle, apart from the color, is almost identical to mine. But she’s young. Early twenties, at a guess. Big, wide, sunny smile with glossy bee-stung lips and a wide smooth forehead. She’s stunning without being conventionally beautiful. Her face is the sort that makes you stare. I twist my silver bracelet—the one I always wear—with inexplicable nervousness.

“Hello, Lily!” she sings. There’s an unexpected kiss on both my cheeks. Then she stands back. I feel cold slice through me like a carving knife. “You don’t remember me? It’s Carla.”

Carla? Little Carla who used to live in the same block of flats all those years ago, when Ed and I were first married? Carla, alias The Italian Girl? Is it really possible that this is the confident young woman who stands before me now with her immaculate complexion, her sharp, cat-like eyes accentuated with just the right touch of eyeliner is Carla?

It has taken me years to achieve a confidence like that.

But of course it’s Carla. She’s a mini-Francesca, minus the long curls.

“How have you been?” I manage to say. “How is your mother?”

This beautiful colt-like creature dips her chin and then tilts her head to one side as if considering the question. “Mamma, she is very well, thank you. She is living in Italy. We have been there for some time.”

Ed breaks in. “Carla’s been trying to get hold of us. She wrote to us.”

I breathe steadily, just as I do in court when I need to be careful. “Really?” I say.

It’s not a lie. Just a question.

“Twice,” says Carla.

She is looking straight at me. Briefly I think back to that first letter with the Italian stamp, which was sent to our old address last year but forwarded to us by the current occupants.

My first instinct had been to throw it away like all the other begging letters we received around that time. People assume, rightly or wrongly, that if an artist has one big success, he or she is rich. The reality is that even with the portrait sale and Ed’s trust money and my salary, we are still not that well off. Our mortgages on both the gallery and the house are huge. And of course we also have Tom’s expensive therapy and his unknown future to think of.

I want to help people in need like any other decent person. But if you give to one, where do you stop? Yet Carla was different. She was right. In a way, we did owe our success to her.

I would talk to Ed, I decided. But a critic had just written yet another snide review, questioning why anyone would want to pay so much for a “brash acrylic work that was worthy of a Montmartre street artist.” My husband had been hurt. It was all I could do to assure Ed that this reviewer was wrong. Better to leave Carla’s letter, I decided, until things were calmer.

Then came the second one, sent to the gallery where Ed had been exhibiting temporarily before it had been forwarded to our home. Luckily, I happened to bump into the postman on the way to work. Recognizing the handwriting and foreign stamp, I slipped it in my briefcase and opened it in the office. The tone was angrier this time. More demanding. I sensed Francesca’s hand behind it. If we gave them some money, I thought, they might ask for more.

So I put it away, pretending to myself that I would deal with it at “some point.” And then I conveniently forgot about it. It wasn’t the right thing to do. I can see that now. But if I had written back to Carla explaining our financial situation, she might not have believed it.

“We were worried when you left so suddenly all those years ago,” Ed is saying now. “Why didn’t you tell us you were going?”

His question takes me back to the last time I saw Carla. That awful row between Tony, Francesca and me. On top of that, I was trying to work out if Ed and I should stay together.

“Yes,” I say, gritting my teeth, “we were very worried about you.” Then my eye falls on the painting behind her. It’s hard not to. There are paintings of Carla as a child all over the room.
“What do you think of your portraits?” I ask. Might as well play devil’s advocate, I tell myself. Try to draw Carla out. It would also make me look more innocent in the matter of those unanswered letters.

The young woman in front of me flushes. “They are lovely.” Then she flushes again. “I do not mean that I am lovely, you understand—”

“Oh, but you are,” breaks in Ed. “Such a beautiful child. We both thought so, didn’t we, Lily?”

I nod.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01IOHQ8CO
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (January 31, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 31, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3628 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 369 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #386,208 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #783 in Women's Crime Fiction
- #1,955 in Women's Literary Fiction
- #2,513 in Sisters Fiction

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Jane Corry

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Jane Corry is a prize-winning author and journalist (Daily Telegraph and women's magazines) who worked for three years as the writer in residence of a high security male prison. This experience helped inspire her Sunday Times Penguin bestsellers 'My Husband's Wife', 'Blood Sisters', 'The Dead Ex', 'I Looked Away', 'I Made A Mistake', 'To Tell The Truth', 'The Lies We Tell', 'We All Have Our Secrets' and 'Coming To Find You'. She has now sold over 1.5 million copies of her books world-wide.

Jane worked as an RLF Fellow at Exeter University and is a former creative writing tutor at Oxford University. She also writes short stories; features for The Daily Telegraph and speaks at literary festivals all over the world. Many of her ideas strike during morning dog-jogs along the beach followed by a dip in the sea - no matter how cold it is!

Jane's latest novel 'Coming To Find You' reached number 7 in the Sunday Times in 2023 and is also published by Doubleday in the USA and Canada. Her new book I DIED ON A TUESDAY comes out this June (Penguin).

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Laurel-Rain Snow

DO YOU KNOW THE ONES YOU LOVE?

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2017

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When young lawyer Lily marries Ed, she’s determined to make a fresh start. To leave the secrets of the past behind. But then she takes on her first murder case and meets Joe. A convicted murderer whom Lily is strangely drawn to. For whom she will soon be willing to risk almost anything.

But Lily is not the only one with secrets. Her next-door neighbor Carla may be only nine, but she has already learned that secrets are powerful things. That they can get her whatever she wants.

When Lily finds Carla on her doorstep sixteen years later, a chain of events is set in motion that can end only one way.

My Thoughts: Alternating narrators tell the story of My Husband's Wife: A Novel , a tale of so many flawed characters with secrets and lies that bind them together.

Lily was one I was rooting for, despite her painful and troubled past, most of which was revealed in bits and pieces…and then, finally, in greater depth at the end.

Carla was a child when we first met her, and I could feel a bit of sympathy for her, but the manipulative aspects of her personality overwhelmed me, and from then on, I was wary of her.

Joe Thomas was Lily’s first client, one she got off for murdering his fiancé. But life would throw some disconcerting curves her way as she came to realize more about him.

Ed, Lily’s husband, was despicable, in my opinion, as he loved controlling those around him, including and especially Lily, and when he showed so much disdain for her, I wanted bad things to happen to him. He did try to make amends at times, but I could not warm up to him at all.

What would ultimately allow some of these damaged characters to move on from the past? Would punishment help them do so?

A riveting and convoluted page turner that would finally bring a bit of clarity to this reader, while reminding us that we do not really know the people we love. 5 stars

42 people found this helpful

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Paul Janensch

Dangerous triangle

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2017

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As this suspense novel is nearing a climax, two women use the term “my husband’s wife.” In both cases the husband is the same man, and the wife is the other woman. It makes for a dangerous triangle.

Lily and Ed Macdonald, newly married, live in London. She is a lawyer, just getting started, assigned to represent Joe Thomas, who wants to appeal his conviction for murdering his girlfriend by pushing her into a scalding bath. Lily feels strangely drawn to Joe. Ed is a graphic designer, but his first love is painting. Across the hall live Italian immigrant Francesca and her daughter Carla, 9, who spends Sundays with the Macdonalds while her mother is entertaining a “special friend.” For Ed, Carla is the perfect model. Lily learns Francesca’s lover is a man she knows under a different name. Joe is tried again.

Twelve years later, Carla, now a strikingly beautiful woman, returns to London to study law. She moves in with the Macdonalds, whose marriage is falling apart. Uh-oh. The Macdonalds’ son has Asperger’s syndrome. Lily feels responsible for her younger brother's death years ago. Someone is threatening Lily. Joe says he wants to protect her. Someone is killed. By whom? At the end, someone says, “I’m my new husband’s wife.”

British author Jane Corry worked as writer-in-residence at a high-security prison for men. That must be why the novel’s scenes in the prison ring true. This is Corry’s debut thriller.

“There’s something really odd about your husband having another wife,” one of the characters tells the reader. Also something really fascinating – at least the way this story unfolds.

6 people found this helpful

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Susan Rostkowski

Such a long read!

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2021

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This book took me forever to read, I’m surprised I even finished it! I think I kept thinking maybe it will get more suspenseful! Or even just suspenseful!!! This book was mundane! The characters were mundane, as was the setting! The only reason I gave it a 3/5 is because of the ending! There was no surprise ending! It just kinda tied up the loose ends of this book.

One person found this helpful

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Kim

Gift for daughter she loved this book

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2024

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Gift for daughter she loved this book

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2021

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JAN 2021 : '16 - Read '21 - 4 STARS. This was Jane Corry's debut book. When your lawyer Lily marries Ed, she's determined to make a fresh start and leave the secrets o the past behind. But then she takes on her first murder case and meets Joe, a convicted murderer to whom Lily is strangely drawn and for whom she will soon be willing to risk almost anything. Lily is not the only one with secrets. Her next-door neighbor Carla may be only 9 but she has already learned that secrets are powerful things.

Prior books by this author for me were Dead Ex ('18 - Read '20 - 4 Stars), I Made A Mistake ('20 - 4.5 Stars), I Looked Away ('19 - 3 Stars) and Blood Sisters ('17 - 4 Stars). I bought this book on sale for $1.99 The beginning felt like I was dropped into a story that had already started. It felt so odd. At 30% I was still hopeful that it would improve. As the story continued, it took me places I didn't see coming. Really liked the ending.

3 people found this helpful

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carilynp

a beautiful Italian woman and her daughter

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2017

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Jane Corry’s MY HUSBAND’S WIFE is the mother of all psychological thrillers. A must-add to your reading list. Two stories, going on simultaneously, that inevitably collide. A young married couple, just back from their honeymoon, who still seem a bit uneasy with each other. Their across-the-hall neighbors, a beautiful Italian woman and her daughter, fish out of water in their London home.

The newlywed woman, an attorney, sets off to meet her first client in prison, a convicted murderer, whom she is to defend on appeal. Try as she might to fight it, she is oddly drawn to him.

Back at school, where the young Italian girl is an outcast, an accident ensues and she is brought home. Mamma isn’t home. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the newlywed woman happens to be in the right or wrong place at the same time and takes the child in. Their lives become entangled.

The characters in this book run the show. But the plot is not on the backburner. It thickens with each chapter, getting heavier as the story progresses. Add a secret on both sides and are you ever in a hurry to find out what has happened and what is yet to happen.

2 people found this helpful

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Teri

two and a half

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2022

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Two and a 1/2 as it was a bit drawn out with so many layers it could have been two books.

One person found this helpful

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IRMA

Carino

Reviewed in Italy on September 2, 2023

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All’inizio sembrava più avvincente poi mi è sembrato abbastanza scontato

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Puss'n'Boots

Great read!

Reviewed in Canada on September 2, 2019

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I couldn’t put it down. The intricacies, the characters - such a clever way of having a first person account for one character and the other character’s account told as a story. A great study of the guilt and of the caring of people with autism. Also of the manipulative actions of certain characters. Great book.

Cliente Amazon

Bello

Reviewed in Italy on February 6, 2024

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È un regalo che ho fatto a mia moglie e mi ha riferito che il libro è molto bello

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Diane

This is a good psychological thriller

Reviewed in Canada on March 24, 2017

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This is a good psychological thriller. It is the story of Lily and Ed, a married couple struggling within their marriage. Lily has a secret from her past that she has not told to anyone, including her husband. She works as a criminal lawyer and meets Joe who she is drawn to. Ed is a struggling artist and begins to paint Carla, their neighbours daughter, who is only nine at the time. Carla has already learned that secrets are a powerful weapon.

When Carla ends up on the doorstep of Lilly and Ed, many years later, a chain of events is set into motion.

These people are all flawed individuals. Can these damaged people move on? A good story with a lot of ups and downs. I liked it.

One person found this helpful

BarbL

Started out intriguing but didn't hold my interest

Reviewed in Canada on February 18, 2021

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I found the opening chapters to be quite intriguing but overall the plot did not hold my interest.

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