Literary Wives is a virtual book club—a group of bloggers who noticed some time ago that there are a lot of books lately about wives. Quarterly we read a book about wives and marriage and incorporate the answers to a question into our reviews, following by a discussion:
What does this book say about wives or about the experience of being a wife?
You can participate by reading along with us and posting your comments or links to your reviews on any of our blogs or our new Facebook page.
The Books
- October 2013: Ahab’s Wife: or, The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund
- December 2013: The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon
- February 2014: The Inquisitor’s Wife by Jeanne Kalogridis
- April 2014: The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
- June 2014: The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
- August 2014: The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
- October 2014: Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon
- December 2014: The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
- February 2015: The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson
- April 2015: The Bishop’s Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison
- June 2015: My Father’s Wives by Mike Greenberg
- August 2015: The Astronaut Wives Club by Melanie Benjamin
- October 2015: The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
- December 2015: The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
- February 2016: A Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante
- April 2016: The Happy Marriage by Tahar Ben Jelloun
- June 2016: The Disobedient Wife by Annika Milisic-Stanley
- August 2016: How to Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman
- October 2016: American Housewife by Helen Ellis
- December 2016: Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood
- February 2017: The Wife by Meg Wolitzer
- April 2017: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Theresa Fowler
- June 2017: The Awakening by Kate Chopin
- August 2017: On Beauty by Zadie Smith
- October 2017: Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
- December 2017: A Lady and Her Husband by Amber Reeves
- February 2018: The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
- April 2018: The Headmaster’s Wife by Thomas Christopher Green
- June 2018: Stay With Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò
- August 2018: First Love by Gwendolyn Riley
- October 2018: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
- December 2018: The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve
- February 2019: They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
- April 2019: Wait for Me, Jack by Addison Jones
- June 2019: A Separation by Katie Kitamura
- August 2019: Ties by Domenico Starnone
- October 2019: Happenstance by Carol Shields
- December 2019: The Home-Maker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
- March 2020: War of the Wives by Tamar Cohen
- June 2020: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
- September 2020: Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen
- December 2020: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
- March 2021: Every Note Played by Lisa Genova
- June 2021: Monogamy by Sue Miller
- September 2021: The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
- December 2021: The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
- March 2022: I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán
- June 2022: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
- September 2022: Red Island House by Andrea Lee
- December 2022: State of the Union by Nick Hornsby
- March 2023: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
- June 2023: The Harpy by Megan Hunter
- September 2023: Sea Wife by Amity Gaige
- December 2023: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
- March 2024: Mrs. March by Virginia Feito
- June 2024: Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
- September 2024: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- December 2024: Euphoria by Elin Culhed
- March 2025: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- June 2025: The Constant Wife by W. Somerset Maugham
- September 2025: Novel about My Wife by Emily Perkins
- December 2025: The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor
- March 2026: Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell
- June 2026: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
- September 2026: Family Family by Laurie Frankel
- December 2026: The Eden Test by Adam Sternbergh
The Wives
Becky of Aidanvale
Becky is a lawyer by day and a reading enthusiast always. She lives in Sydney with her husband, two kids – each with huge personalities – and one very spoiled cavoodle. Life is a juggle of family, friends, and full-time work, and she is always trying to find some kind of balance in the chaos. She is happy to read everything but is often happiest with a cosy detective novel and some peace and quiet.
Kate can’t remember a time in her life that didn’t include books. She started her blog in 2012 as a way of extending her bookish-circle – and extend it, it did!
Kate lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and four children. When she’s not reading, she can be found swimming laps at her local pool, dreaming of her next beach holiday, or walking by the Yarra River. Kate works as a grief counsellor.
Naomi of Consumed By Ink
Once upon a time, Naomi worked as a biologist, math tutor, and early childhood educator. Since then, she has been happily reading bedtime stories to three eager listeners, and hopes this will never change. She loves traveling around the Canadian Maritimes with her family, visiting the used book stores and bakeries.
Rebecca of Bookish Beck
Originally from Maryland, Rebecca lives in Newbury, England and works as a freelance proofreader and book reviewer. She also curates a neighborhood Little Free Library and volunteers with community gardening projects and at her local public library.
And me, Kay of whatmeread.
Kay is a long-time professional technical writer (now retired—yippee!) who also taught composition and technical-writing courses at the college level. She loves reading all kinds of books. She is also a moderator for The Classics Club. She is the secret author of three (sadly unpublished) trashy romance novels and one literary novel.
What? Me Read? 
What a wonderful idea for an online bookclub. I have been reading everyone’s review of lessons in chemistry and I will prioritise it now. I recently tried to read Wifedom by Anna Funder but wasn’t able to finish it. She articulated so many things I felt but couldn’t articulate clearly myself – but I think in my time of life with being a wife, a full time worker and parenting teen/tweens it was just making me feel resentful so I stopped. The sign of a good book to evoke such strong feelings but I might have to try reading it again in a few years.
Becky, if you would like to join us, we are always looking for new members. Our next book is going to be a play, The Constant Wife by Maugham. We will review it the first Monday of June. It sounds like you would have plenty to say. What do you think? If you are interested, I’ll check with the members, but I can’t imagine anyone would object. All you do is try to read a book a quarter, and then about every other year, we have a list of books that all we work on together to pick our next seven or eight reads.
Hi Kay, I would very much like to join in – but of course it’s your book club and I would more than understand if that wasn’t possible. I haven’t read a play for some time – so if nothing else I will definitely get a hold of it and have a read. Thank you.
OK, let me ask the others. I can’t see that there would be an objection. I’ll let you know.
Becky, we have all agreed the more the merrier, so if you’d like to join, please send me your email address to robartkay@sbcglobal.net. I’ll let you know the few things I need from you.