Chrissy’s Review: Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown

Recipe for a Perfect Wife
written by Karma Brown
published by Dutton, 2020

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Apple Books, Target, Walmart, Kobo, Book Depository, Goodreads

Did I enjoy this book? I loved this book. I read it every free chance I had, and I didn’t want it to end.

The parallel stories of Alice and Nellie were well done and seamless. Nellie was a very complex character, and I definitely felt more for her than I did for Alice. Nellie’s circumstances were quite a bit different from Alice’s, especially her lack of choice in a lot of areas of her life. Alice, being a modern-day woman, has so many more choices and a lot of her own choices led to her current circumstances. So, it was easier for me to be more sympathetic to Nellie than to Alice. Either way, each woman was struggling and had to deal with those struggles in the best way she knew how. (I’m not going specifics because I don’t want to spoil the book. These circumstances shape each character’s decisions and lives in the end. Just read the book to find out. Then come back so we can discuss it!)

Recipe for a Perfect Wife had quite a few surprises too. I didn’t see the end coming as it did, that’s for sure! And I loved the introductions to each chapter. The advice given was interesting, to say the least. We’ve come a long way. This was a fantastic read!

Would I recommend it? Absolutely! You should read this book! It would also make a wonderful book club book.
 

 
About the book – from Goodreads: In this captivating dual narrative novel, a modern-day woman finds inspiration in hidden notes left by her home’s previous owner, a quintessential 1950s housewife. As she discovers remarkable parallels between this woman’s life and her own, it causes her to question the foundation of her own relationship with her husband–and what it means to be a wife fighting for her place in a patriarchal society.

When Alice Hale leaves a career in publicity to become a writer and follows her husband to the New York suburbs, she is unaccustomed to filling her days alone in a big, empty house. But when she finds a vintage cookbook buried in a box in the old home’s basement, she becomes captivated by the cookbook’s previous owner–1950s housewife Nellie Murdoch. As Alice cooks her way through the past, she realizes that within the cookbook’s pages Nellie left clues about her life–including a mysterious series of unsent letters penned to her mother.

Soon Alice learns that while baked Alaska and meatloaf five ways may seem harmless, Nellie’s secrets may have been anything but. When Alice uncovers a more sinister–even dangerous–side to Nellie’s marriage, and has become increasingly dissatisfied with the mounting pressures in her own relationship, she begins to take control of her life and protect herself with a few secrets of her own.

 

 

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** This post first appeared on Every Free Chance Books (everyfreechance.com) on January 15, 2020.