Our booksellers are loving The Wife and the Widow
Following on from his enormously successful debut, The Nowhere Child, we’ve been looking forward all year to Christian White’s second crime thriller. And now it’s here!
Here are some glowing testimonials from booksellers who have read, and loved, The Wife and the Widow.
‘As an avid crime fiction reader, I don’t outwardly react to events that happen in books that often. It sounds awful, but brutal murders and unexpected denouements (I’ve definitely spelled that wrong) no longer have the power to shock you as they used to. Or so I thought, anyway, until a particular moment in The Wife and the Widow where, alone in my apartment, I gave a shriek of surprise when I realised what Christian White had done. The follow up to a debut bestseller is always a worry – will it be as good as the first? – but I’m calling it. This is even better than The Nowhere Child. The story of two women – one whose husband has just been killed, and one whose husband is accused of murder – is a thrilling, small-town crime you’ll want to immediately read again.’
– Fiona Hardy
‘Just when you think you’re reading a straight-up crime tale, White goes and turns a screw on the story that twists it so off-kilter that it will mess with all of your expectations, and you’ll question everything you’ve just read. On finishing, you’ll want to go straight back to the start of the novel in search of all the clues you’re bound to have missed on the first read. A brilliant second novel, The Wife and the Widow will toy with your mind long after the final page.’
– Deborah Crabtree
‘It’s rare for an author’s second novel to live up to expectations, but, after the success of The Nowhere Child, Christian White has done even better the second time around. The Wife and the Widow had me hooked right from the start. As I raced towards the end, it had me wondering if I’d been misreading things, until the eventual light bulb moment when everything clicked into place. A very clever and surprising end to the book, indeed!’
– Sharon Peterson
‘With The Wife and the Widow, Christian White again pulls me into the story so quickly and easily. I’m invested right from the start with the main characters – in this case Abby the wife, and Kate the widow – and because we know from the onset who’s been killed, it’s the how and why that I’m searching for. This book is another page-turner that I couldn’t put down and that late twist – far out! I was racing through the pages trying to figure out how the two character streams could possibly reconcile, and then it slaps you in the face. I imagine I’ll be rereading this one over the summer too, trying to spot any clues I missed while speeding through it the first time.’
– Suzanne Steinbruckner
