The Doctor's Wife

by Elizabeth Brundage

Book Overview

A stunning work of literary suspense by the the acclaimed author of All Things Cease to Appear."The memory starts here, in my apron pocket, with the gun." Lydia Haas is devoted to Jesus, her church,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452286913
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Plume
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

BRILLIANT AND BEAUTIFUL

This book had me riveted from the moment I started it. I don't usually read books about women, but I found this to be a highly engaging read. My wife was annoyed with me for keeping the bedroom light on all night because I could not put it down. I don't generally write reviews, but with this book I couldn't resist. It will not disappoint you.

WOW!

I just finished this book...I stayed up all through the night to do so. I'm also in tears. This book is quite possibly the best book I've ever read. It's so powerful. The book touches on so many different high-impact topics, such as, infidelity, insanity,manipulation,right-to-life, pro choice. And deep love. The whole time I was reading this book, I kept thinking how real-to-life it played out. You could actually see the headlines in your mind from today's newspapers. I loved Annie. She was imperfect, and the author laid her out for the reader, warts and all. I'm so used to the heroine's in stories coming across as perfect, that it was nice to read about one who's just like the rest of us, more or less. Buy the book, you will not be sorry. Can't wait for her next book.

A compelling story!

This is a story about marital infidelity and mental psychosis. That sounds pretty heavy for a good book, but it works. The book centers around two married couples: Simon and Lydia Haas and Michael and Annie Knowles. Their lives intertwine in a shocking and fascinating way. The climax of the book was satisfying and exciting. I kind of stumbled upon this book at the library one day and thought I'd try it. I'm glad I did.

A Sensitive Book to Savor

A recently published review of this book calls it wooden.I strongly take issue with the critic and wonder if in facthe/she read it in its entirety, as it is anything but...I consider myself a serious reader, preferring to read forlanguage rather than content. I found this book to beextremely well crafted, tightly edited, with a strong involvingplot line, nuanced character development, and an imaginative structurethat is neither confusing nor obtuse. The lovely, occasionally harsh, readily poignant use of language, informs the complexities of the charactersmaking them not so dark as much as human,drenching them in a full range of sincere humanity and all itsfoibles.Whether on the beach this summer or sitting reflectivelywith a pencil underscoring the delicious use of language,I heartily recommend The Doctor's Wife.This is an extremely impressive debut novel whichI intend to savor with a second read.

Full of Suspense, Memorable Characters and Compelling Issues

Perhaps I'm in danger of becoming one of those cynical single urbanites, but whenever I pick up a novel that starts out with a seemingly perfect couple and their seemingly perfect children, living in a seemingly perfect neighborhood, I want to rub my hands together with glee. You just KNOW it's all going downhill from there. But even this cynical urbanite was surprised by the depths to which Elizabeth Brundage will go with her characters. And THE DOCTOR'S WIFE is all the better for it. Note here: if your book club has gotten too genteel lately and is in need of a good cage-rattling, this is just the novel to do it.THE DOCTOR'S WIFE is set in upstate New York --- civil, picturesque, well-mannered upstate New York --- and centers on Michael and Annie Knowles, the kind of couple that sits around listening to NPR's soothing, well-modulated liberal voices on Sunday mornings while doing the crossword in the Times; the smell of their toasted designer bagels mingling with the scent of their designer coffee, while their perfect children in Gap chic are playing nearby before rushing off to soccer and other mainstays of suburban life. Michael is a young, extremely busy and successful OB/GYN at a prominent hospital; Annie is a Miss Porter's School-educated college professor who teaches creative writing (naturally). But wait --- is that a rat we smell amidst the Starbucks?Annie is growing bored being "the doctor's wife," particularly since the Good Doctor is never around. It appears that Doc's bell is being rung these days by Celina James, an old flame who appeals to much more than Michael's libido --- she has a good-sized socio-political agenda wrapped up in the shape of her Women's Health Clinic, the town's only provider of abortions. Celina enlists Michael to help her at the Clinic, and soon Michael's already-limited free time from the hospital is being spent at Celina's clinic. There are no sparks between them these days except professional ones, but clearly he prefers the energy of Celina to Annie's world.Unfortunately for Michael, the guy who IS around for Annie just happens to be Tall, Brooding, Successful-yet-Misunderstood Suffering Artist-turned-Art-Professor Simon Haas. Never mind that Simon himself is married to the beautiful Lydia Haas, his longtime muse, though she has enough skeletons in her closet to populate a Grateful Dead concert. When the Knowles family starts getting all kinds of anonymous threats, it's not clear at first where they're coming from or why --- are they the work of the Right-Wing Extremists running around town protesting Michael's moonlighting gig, or are these more personal in nature?What evolves is a novel of psychological suspense that is edgy and compelling. Brundage's sense of plot and timing is impeccable, and she really knows how to hook a reader from the very first chapter. The action starts with a kidnapping and it does not let up from there. The story unfolds with many of the twists coming out of the past.While her