The Half Wives - A Novel

Stacia Pelletier

Summary

“Part historical fiction, part heartbreaking romance, part bildungsroman, this book takes readers on a journey rich with detail and darkness” (Seattle Book Review). Henry Plageman is a master secret-keeper. A former Lutheran minister, he lost his faith after losing his infant son, Jack, many years ago; his wife, Marilyn, remains consumed by grief. But Henry has another life—another woman and another child—unknown to Marilyn. His lover, Lucy, yearns for a man she can be with openly while their eight-year-old daughter, Blue, tries to make sense of her parents’ fractured lives The Half Wives follows these interconnected characters through one momentous day, May 22, 1897, the sixteenth anniversary of Jack’s birth. Marilyn distracts herself with charity work. Henry needs to talk his way out of the police station, where he has spent the night for disorderly conduct. Lucy must rescue the intrepid Blue, who has fallen in a saltwater well. Before long, the four will be drawn to the same destination—the city cemetery on the outskirts of San Francisco—where the collision of lives and secrets leaves no one unaltered. A Finalist for the Townsend Prize “The developing San Francisco of the 1890s becomes a rich background for these three as they play out their messy, somber, intertwined fates.” —The New York Times Book Review “A poignant, sometimes heart-rending, beautifully crafted, always gripping tale of loss and love, and the human need to try to set things right.” —Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd “Pelletier’s writing is moving and enthralling . . . [She] keeps readers hooked right up to the book’s satisfying conclusion.” —Publishers Weekly

Available since: 04/04/2017.

Print length: 341 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Red Plenty

Francis Spufford

Strange as it may seem, the gray, oppressive USSR was founded on a fairy tale. It was built on the twentieth-century magic called "the planned economy," which was going to gush forth an abundance of good things that the lands of capitalism could never match. And just for a little while, in the heady years of the late 1950s, the magic seemed to be working. Red Plenty is about that moment in history, and how it came, and how it went away; about the brief era when, under the rash leadership of Khrushchev, the Soviet Union looked forward to a future of rich communists and envious capitalists, when Moscow would out-glitter Manhattan and every Lada would be better engineered than a Porsche. It's about the scientists who did their genuinely brilliant best to make the dream come true, to give the tyranny its happy ending.Red Plenty is history, it's fiction, it's as ambitious as Sputnik, as uncompromising as an Aeroflot flight attendant, and as different from what you were expecting as a glass of Soviet champagne.

Show book

Victus - The Fall of Barcelona a...

Albert Sanchez Pinol

A #1 international bestseller reminiscent of the works of Roberto Bolaño, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and Edward Rutherford—a page-turning historical epic, set in early eighteenth-century Spain, about a military mastermind whose betrayal ultimately leads to the conquest of Barcelona, from the globally popular Catalonian writer Albert Sánchez Piñol.Why do the weak fight against the strong? At 98, Martí Zuviría ponders this question as he begins to tell the extraordinary tale of Catalonia and its annexation in 1714. No one knows the truth of the story better, for Martí was the very villain who betrayed the city he was commended to keep.The story of Catalonia and Barcelona is also Martí’s story. A prestigious military engineer in the early 1700s, he fought on both sides of the long War of the Spanish Succession between the Two Crowns—France and Spain—and aided an Allied enemy in resisting the consolidation of those two powers. Politically ambitious yet morally weak, Martí carefully navigates a sea of Machiavellian intrigue, eventually rising to a position of power that he will use for his own mercenary ends.A sweeping tale of heroism, treason, war, love, pride, and regret that culminates in the tragic fall of a legendary city, illustrated with battle diagrams, portraits of political figures, and priceless maps of the old city of Barcelona, Victus is a magnificent literary achievement that is sure to be hailed as an instant classic.

Show book

Determination

Mary Kingswood

One man with a secret. A family torn apart by the consequences. 
Mr Bertram Atherton has one foot in the Ancient World, emerging from his library only to eat and sleep. But when the chaplain of his uncle, the Earl of Rennington, is brutally murdered, it is revealed that he was never ordained and so the earl’s marriage was invalid, and his children rendered illegitimate. Bertram’s father is now the heir to the earldom, and Bertram after him. It’s a horrifying change of circumstances for a man only interested in intellectual pursuits. 
Miss Beatrice Franklyn is shocked to discover that her betrothed, the earl’s eldest son, has been disinherited and can’t make her a countess. But his cousin Bertram will inherit now, and he’ll do, won’t he? Bea sets her sights on a second betrothal, and she usually gets her way. How can unworldly Bertram resist her feminine wiles? But no matter how many tricks she tries and how determined she is to lure him into matrimony, she finds that Bertram is equally determined not to be lured. Which of them will win the battle of wills? 
This is a complete story with a happy ever after. A traditional Regency romance, drawing room rather than bedroom. Book 2 of a 6 book series.

Show book

The Lion Triumphant

Philippa Carr

Played out against the seething rivalry between Inquisition-torn Spain and Elizabethan England, The Lion Triumphant traces the linked fates of strong-willed Catherine Farland and Captain Jake Pennlyon Called “The Lion,” Captain Jake Pennlyon is a fearsome and virile plunderer who takes what he wants, and his sights are set on Catherine Farland. Blackmailed into wedlock and haunted by memories of the gentle boy she was forbidden to wed, Cat vows to escape. Fate intervenes when she’s taken prisoner aboard a Spanish galleon . . . unaware that she’s a pawn in one man’s long-awaited revenge. Beginning as Elizabeth takes the throne of England, and spanning the years until the legendary defeat of the Spanish Armada, The Lion Triumphant follows Cat’s journey from the thrill of a first passion to the ferocity of a mother’s love. Despite the twists of history, her fortunes—and her heart—will remain tied to one seductive buccaneer.

Show book

Dulcie

Mary Kingswood

A spoilt young lady and a scornful schoolmaster, but can they overcome their fiery tempers to find love? 
A traditional Regency romance, drawing room rather than bedroom. 
Dulcie’s sharp tongue has got her into trouble many times, and set her at odds even with her own sisters, but when she falls out with a neighbour, he challenges her to swap places with his ailing sister — she will go to Allamont Hall to recover in luxury, while Dulcie must manage the chores of a small cottage. As she learns to milk the goat and cook meat without burning it, she also learns a great deal about humility and honesty — and about love. 
Alex Drummond is struggling to maintain the appearance of a gentleman on the small income of a village schoolmaster. Cheerful and outgoing in company, yet fighting black moods at home, an outbreak of temper makes him cross swords with the infuriating and spoilt Dulcie Allamont. His scorn turns first to respect and then to admiration. But Dulcie is a rich woman, and quite out of his reach… 
Book 4 of the 6-book series The Daughters of Allamont Hall. Each book is a complete story with a HEA, but read them all to find out all the secrets of Allamont Hall!

Show book

Phineas Finn the Irish Member

Anthony Trollope

Phineas Finn is the sequel to “Can you Forgive Her?” and the second novel in Trollope’s Palliser series. The eponymous hero is a young Irishman who becomes a member of the English parliament. Trollope aspired to become an M.P. himself, and he ably describes the workings of the English political scene. There is also a love interest, as the somewhat inconstant Phineas courts three different women: his Irish sweetheart, Mary Flood Jones; Lady Laura Standish, the daughter of a prominent Whig politician; and a lovely heiress, Violet Effingham. (Summary by Karen Merline) 
This is the second of Trollope’s six “Palliser” novels.  LibriVox recordings of other novels in the series are available:1-Can You Forgive Her?2-Phineas Finn3-The Eustace Diamonds4-Phineas Redux5-The Prime Minister6-The Duke’s Children

Show book