Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
I found this book fascinating. In fact, I finished it in one day. The story switches back and forth between two wives living in the same house--one in the 1950s (Nellie) and one in 2018 (Alice).
Alice has recently lost her public relations job in NYC and her husband convinces her it's the perfect time to move out to the 'burbs and have a baby. She is not really on board with this plan but reluctantly goes along with it. While her husband is at work, she's supposed to be working on home repairs and the novel she's supposed to be writing, but she comes across an old cookbook and some old Ladies Home Journals, which capture her attention, then Alice finds a series of letters that were written by Nellie (the previous occupant) to her mother, but never mailed. At first she thinks Nellie had a pretty boring life of cooking, cleaning, gardening and attending Tupperware parties. But she eventually comes to realize there was a lot more going on with her than Alice first suspected.And we find that there is a lot more to Alice than we suspected.
Each chapter starts with advice on how to be a perfect wife taken from old books, articles, and pamphlets--most of which involves doing whatever the husband wants, looking the other way when he cheats, and always looking perfect for him. (And yes, I am rolling my eyes here.) The author has also included several recipes from the 50s.
I think this would be an excellent choice for a book group. I'd love to hear what others thought about the way Nellie decided to solve her problems and the way Alice's story ends.
Alice has recently lost her public relations job in NYC and her husband convinces her it's the perfect time to move out to the 'burbs and have a baby. She is not really on board with this plan but reluctantly goes along with it. While her husband is at work, she's supposed to be working on home repairs and the novel she's supposed to be writing, but she comes across an old cookbook and some old Ladies Home Journals, which capture her attention, then Alice finds a series of letters that were written by Nellie (the previous occupant) to her mother, but never mailed. At first she thinks Nellie had a pretty boring life of cooking, cleaning, gardening and attending Tupperware parties. But she eventually comes to realize there was a lot more going on with her than Alice first suspected.And we find that there is a lot more to Alice than we suspected.
Each chapter starts with advice on how to be a perfect wife taken from old books, articles, and pamphlets--most of which involves doing whatever the husband wants, looking the other way when he cheats, and always looking perfect for him. (And yes, I am rolling my eyes here.) The author has also included several recipes from the 50s.
I think this would be an excellent choice for a book group. I'd love to hear what others thought about the way Nellie decided to solve her problems and the way Alice's story ends.
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