The Mere Wife

The Mere Wife was sold to me as a combination of Beowulf and [b:Stepford Wives 52350 The Stepford Wives Ira Levin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554371721l/52350.SY75.jpg 1534281], and from that moment I couldn't have been more invested. It is a descriptive, weird, winding book about motherhood, monsters, and war. It's hard to summarize without giving details away, but I'll give a broad overview: Atop and sometimes inside a mountain live a woman and her son, who have survived through everything and on nothing. At the base of the mountain, atop piles of graves and secrets, sits Herot Hall, a perfectly manicured, affluent suburban community full of women somehow in control of everything and nothing.There is much to be gleaned from The Mere Wife. How the trauma of war stays with you no matter how long it's been. How much and how little people can survive. How sometimes women are more easily believed when they're lying or keeping secrets than when they're telling the truth. How those underestimated and overlooked sometimes find their way into the most power without anyone even realizing it. Pick it up for a much different take on gender than [b:The Handmaid's Tale 38447 The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1) Margaret Atwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578028274l/38447.SY75.jpg 1119185] or [b:The Power 39402272 The Power Naomi Alderman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1521910552l/39402272.SY75.jpg 50108451]. For fans of [a:Ira Levin 8050 Ira Levin https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1195044387p2/8050.jpg], [a:Shirley Jackson 13388 Shirley Jackson https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1550251468p2/13388.jpg], [b:Naamah 40917488 Naamah Sarah Blake https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532458699l/40917488.SY75.jpg 63793336], and maybe [b:My Sister, the Serial Killer 38819868 My Sister, the Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523366732l/38819868.SY75.jpg 60394238].