The Younger Wife

A Novel

By: Sally Hepworth

Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik, Caroline Lee, Jessica Douglas-Henry, Zoe Carides

"Mysteries drive this satisfyingly twisty tale by Hepworth, whose work may remind you of Liane Moriarty's...the effect is amplified by the talented cast, which includes Caroline Lee, who narrates Moriarty's audiobooks."—The Providence Journal

Sally Hepworth, the newest breakout star of domestic suspense, delivers her next twisty novel about family secrets and lies in The Younger Wife.

Stephen Aston is getting married again. The only problem is, he's still married to his first wife, even though she is in a care facility for dementia. But he'll take care of that easily, by divorcing her—even if his adult daughters protest.

Tully and Rachel Aston look upon Heather as nothing but an interloper. Heather is the same age as Rachel and even younger than Tully. Clearly she's a gold digger and after their father's money. Heather has secrets that she's keeping close, and reasons of her own for wanting to marry Stephen.

With their mother unable to speak for herself, Tully and Rachel are determined to get to the truth about their family's secrets, the new wife closing in, and who their father really is. But will getting to the truth unleash the most dangerous impulses...in all of them?

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

©2022 Sally Hepworth (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

WOW

I could not stop listening! The character development was fantastic and the ending was something I did not expect at all!

great new author

i am so glad my friend recommended this book both the story and reader were great!

Sally Hepworth is the best!

LOVE this book. I highly recommend Sally Hepworth’s novels. The characters are amazing and the storyline was great.

Loses steam

*spoilers*

The storylines of both daughters are half baked. A dubious “bad investment” ruining Tully’s life (which goes completely unexplained) could have been more compelling with her wrestling with relationship concerns around the money/control of Sonny. Rachel’s storyline of being BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL but celibate due to sexual assault, until of course a perfect, extremely handsome man comes into the picture and cures her, is quite tone deaf. The Darcy character as a whole is extremely shallow, and lacks any real value to the story. Similarly to the “bad investment”, we do got get any resolution to the assault. Other than being the supposed reason for her later eating disorder, it served zero purpose, and was told with a very shallow/cliched lens. Stevens gaslighting was also poorly written, for it to be believable, us as the readers should be mystified and questioning the truth. Simply making the women “confused” about wether or not they were strangled is just ridiculous.

All in all it’s a decent storyline, I just wish more effort had gone into revisions. Building out the characters more fully would have helped a lot. Heather and Rachel specifically lacked depth.

Excellent narration

Loved the multiple narrators and was hooked from the beginning. Sally Hepworth is starting to become one of my favorites.

The MOST disfunction

When it comes to disfunction in this family, no one gets left out! It was an interesting and original story , although some parts really felt like a stretch. But it definitely held my attention, especially because the narration was outstanding.

surprises each chapter

so engaging! each character was developed and all with surprises. I Truly enjoyed it.

Engaging

Good read, interesting and keeps you engaged. I am pleased. I purchased this book. Great for Audible when you are walking or exercising or cleaning house!

Brilliant

Absolutely brilliant. Sally Hepworth’s writing is complex and beautiful. The character development is rich and pulls you in. You know each character in a way many authors fail to capture.

Deep family drama surrounds this mystery. Definitely worth a credit.

Very Good

Really enjoyed my first book by Sally Hepworth. I will definitely be reading more from her.