The Third Wife

Lisa Jewel has been one of my favourite authors for many years now, she displays an amazing ability (shared by Jane Green) of having had her books continue to grow and change as I've matured, moving from lighthearted tales of new romance to tales of families and middle life woes.

Nowhere has this been more evident than in her latest novel, The Third Wife, the tale of Maya the quiet schoolteacher who out of nowhere walks in front of a bus leaving behind her husband Adrian and his extended family of two ex - wives and 5 stepchildren. This is a complex but very modern story which is becoming more familiar, patchwork families who are thrown together as a result of fractured homes and new marriages. The heart of this tale is whether the harmonious, united front the family displays is actually real or whether when someone leaves they can ever truly do so without hurting those they left behind.

I found this a slow starter of a book, a little bit of time is required before we begin to understand what the story is going to be about, initially the tale of Maya's grieving husband appearing to wish for a new relationship made him a little difficult to sympathise with. I found part one of the book was a little wide spread across the characters, but only because there are a lot of people we need to get to know before the story can truly ramp up.

From Part 2 onwards though it became a wonderfully engaging story of how much hurt can be caused by those who are supposed to love us, how much distress Maya was put through as a result of being the third wife and the childless wife. How her own happiness becomes secondary to the other wives and children in whose world she had to slot.

Lisa Jewell writes as always with a great sense of emotional intelligence and a true understanding of family dynamics, writing through the voices of characters ranging from ages 5 upwards to late 40 ‘s. She keeps us guessing throughout this book as to who had the biggest reasons to resent Maya, giving us a real sense of who else Maya might have shared her secrets with and her state of mind. It is such a satisfying book though that it becomes less a tale of who did what than a chance for a family to understand that no one is infallible and we all make mistakes.

Absolutely one of the best books I've read this year, it's like spending time with an old friend when I curl up with a new Lisa Jewell book and this didn't disappoint.