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A Reliable Wife  By  cover art

A Reliable Wife

By: Robert Goolrick
Narrated by: Mark Feuerstein
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Editorial reviews

Stinging needles of snow plunge rural Wisconsin into isolating despair as this erotic psychological thriller unravels in the autumn of 1907. Wealthy businessman Ralph Truitt, remote and severe, awaits his dowdy mail-order bride on a gloomy railroad platform, too restrained even to shiver in public. "I am a simple honest woman," she has written him.

When glossy-haired Catherine Land, his young wife-to-be, slips off the train, she collapses Ralph with her unexpected beauty and stillness. Ralph, in turn, shatters Catherine with his growly security and kindness. Each is deceiving the other. Tony Moretti, Ralph's ruthless estranged son, eventually sinks their schemes. A Reliable Wife is Gothic suspense, so secrets leak, blood spills, arsenic drips, and past wrongs are avenged.

Novelist Robert Goolrick knots chilling plot twists with ruined characters. Brittle Catherine buries her depraved adulthood by cloning the "manners of her fellow travelers exactly", down to cleaning her own hairbrush so maids will remark on her good breeding. She holes up in public libraries and steams through encyclopedias and card catalogs, collecting facts for her reinvention as a virginal missionary's daughter. Ralph punishes his roaring sensuality with ice water and listless dinner parties. He is a joyless grind. Love, meanwhile, bores Tony with its "lack of event...the same steady heartbeat".

Mark Feuerstein narrates A Reliable Wife in hypnotic murmurs to resist competing with Goolrick's lush, poetic language and explicit sexual dialogue. He bundles his velvety reading voice into a steady purr, lulling and tranquilizing against overwrought subtexts of hysteria. Feuerstein is unhurried, though never halting. He chronicles Catherine and Ralph's broken tangle with unadorned inflections and conspiratorial silences. Feuerstein invests his characters with authentic hearts, even if they, themselves, are not in true possession of one. Nita Rao

Publisher's summary

Robert Goolrick's riveting debut novel is both foreboding and sensual. When a wealthy man first meets his mail-order bride in 1907, he realizes this statuesque beauty is anything but a "simple missionary's daughter." But he doesn't know of her devious plan to leave Wisconsin as a rich widow. Nor does she know of the furious demons he longs to unleash during the lonely months of snowbound isolation.
©2009 Robert Goolrick (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"A sublime murder ballad that doesn't turn out at all the way one might expect." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"This darkly nuanced psychological tale builds to a strong and satisfying close." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about A Reliable Wife

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • M.
  • 08-23-09

Thoroughly Enjoyable

Listened to this book on a very long road trip and couldn't wait to get back into the car during rest stops to continue. Great,entertainment; good story.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!!

This book was great from the start - definately recommend it. There were so many twists and turns that I did not see coming, I had to rewind many times just to make sure I heard them correctly. VERY GOOD!!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

I liked it

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, it's a good listen. I'd recommend it to my female friends as good chic lit with a twist

What did you like best about this story?

while there were a few good surprises it was wasn't the story I fell in love with as much as the characters.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

a good listen but a little slow

This is a good story from start to finish but if you are looking for a lot of action, it will be too slow for you. It's more a character study of three people - a father, a son and the woman they both love. It is well written and very well narrated but I did find it a little boring at times and questioned if I would finish it but overall it was worth listening to.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Intriguing

I enjoyed the book - it is a very solid story. The writer brings interesting characters into a web of a plot. It made my evening walk lively.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

spine chilling

This is a story that will not let you go. It is compelling and fascinating. The author draws a vivid landscape as well as characters who are both well defined yet complex.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

LOVED THIS BOOK

This is an incredible book. Not only is the story incredible but
the reader is excellent. The best audio book I have ever listened
to. Book and reader perfect together.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but disturbing.

I can't say I didn't finish this book, but it went to some very dark places.it's a redemption layered over about a half dozen betrayals. It's also a view of rural Wisconsin in the 1880s that I suspect is probably quite true.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Didn't expect it to end the way it did.

Interesting story, Some of the characters personalities were impossible to believe. If I heard, "I want him dead, you promised" one more time, I would have screamed. If he wanted him dead so badly, why didn't he do the deed himself. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something was definitely missing. No one had a conscience, except for Ralph and that was way to little to late.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Troubling

Beautifully written tragedy . I had a feeling of anxiety throughout the entire second half of the story. I continued listening, hoping for something good to happen but sadly, it did not. If you don't need a happy ending, this is a great novel.

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