THE REVIEW:
I read this book, thinking what most married women thing: This is my worst nightmare.
Eleanor Anderson is devastated when she finds her husband dead beside her one morning. Things get worse when she finds out that he changed their insurance policy four years before without telling her. Her confusion grows when she realizes there is almost no money for her to live, and the house was re-financed. After thirty-eight years of marriage, she assumed he would leave her enough to take care of her. Hearing the beneficiary of the policy is left to a woman she's never heard of, leaves her with questions that she isn't too sure she wants to answers to.
Claire Anderson is a professor who is juggling work and two kids, and finding little time for herself. Her husband is always out of town for work, which makes things hard, but she handles it. When an insurance agent calls her out of the blue, telling her that her husband has died and that he's been buried two days before, she's hurt, confused and angry.
Soon, Eleanor finds out who Claire is, and worse, there are children involved. She's heartbroken and more so, livid. She's understandably mad at her late husband, but she's also mad at herself. Mad that she allowed him to have control over everything, and mad that she didn't allow her voice to be heard.
I felt for both women, as both were lied to and led to believe different things. I was mad for both of them, more for Eleanor because he left her financially berift. I also felt for Claire who is suddenly dealing with the reality of knowing her husband was not the man he thought she was.
I thought this was a great book!! One that will be read again!!
THE EXCERPT:
Eleanor
closed her eyes, blocking out the ugly sight of sibling rivalry. She
couldn’t believe she was sitting there listening to her children
squabble over their father’s money. Their money. Her money.
“He didn’t leave it to any of you,” Jim admitted. “I haven’t contacted the primary beneficiary yet.”
“Wait
a minute. Let me get this straight.” Jeffrey tiredly rubbed his
forehead. “You’re telling us that Dad left his money to someone else?
Not to Mom, not to either of us, but to someone else? And that he has no
idea he’s inherited millions?”
“She has no idea.”
She?
Eleanor shivered, uncertain whether she’d heard Jim correctly. She
shook her head as if by doing so she could dislodge the words rattling
around in her brain like loose pennies that somehow had ended up in the
bottom of her purse. She? She was certain there must be some mistake. Richard never would have left his money to another woman.
Would he?
“Let’s
stop the bullshit,” Jeffrey said. “We’re his family, Jim, and we have a
right to know. You said you could release the name to Dad’s personal
rep? Well, you’re looking at him. And I’m telling you right now, in my
legal capacity as his personal representative: I want to know. I demand
to know.”
Genevieve’s eyes narrowed. “Me too.”
“Eleanor?” Jim’s voice was a soothing stream of quiet concern. “Are you all right?”
What a stupid question,
she thought to herself as she pulled her sweater tighter around
herself. Of course she wasn’t all right. She’d had the oddest feeling
when she’d woken that morning that today wouldn’t be a good day. Jim’s
revelation was all the confirmation she needed to officially pound the
last nail in the casket. Richard’s casket, so to speak. And now, if it
wasn’t too much to ask, all she wanted was to be allowed to crawl back
into bed, burrow down in the blankets, pull the covers over her head,
and go to sleep. And maybe, when she woke up, she would discover all
this had simply been a horrible nightmare. Richard would come strolling
in the door, as he had countless times in the past, returning from yet
another extended trip to the Middle East, his rolling suitcase filled
with dirty socks and underwear, and a world-weary look about him. And
after planting a kiss on her forehead, he would head upstairs where he
would collapse in their bed, once sleeping for nearly sixteen hours
straight, before he finally woke. Yes, that would be the way of it.
She’d go upstairs and sleep off this nightmare. And when she was awake
again, this ghastly business would have drifted away, leaving only mists
of misery as a remembrance.
“Mom? Are you okay?”
Eleanor
couldn’t remember hearing Jeffrey’s voice sound so distraught save for
the day he’d returned from Hawaii, the day after Richard’s death. He’d
broken down when he saw her, collapsing in her arms and crying
unabashedly like he’d done as a little boy. She’d done the comforting
when he was small, and she’d been the one to provide the comfort last
week too, never questioning whether he’d been grieving over the loss of a
father to whom he’d never been close or the lost opportunity to put
things right between them. It hadn’t mattered then, and it didn’t matter
now. Somehow she managed to summon the willpower to open her eyes and
discovered the three of them staring at her.
“I’m
fine.” Eleanor pulled in a deep breath. Much as she didn’t want to hear
Jim’s news, she knew in her heart that she didn’t have a choice.
“Jeffrey’s right. We need to hear the truth.”
Jim’s
face was a cacophony of ethical concern versus friendship, and for a
moment, she wondered if he would respect Jeffrey’s command and abide by
her wishes. But thirty-plus years of friendship with their family
finally won out.
“He left the money to a woman named Claire Anderson,” Jim finally admitted.
Claire Anderson?
Eleanor frowned. The first name meant nothing to her, but the last name
certainly did. It was the same name listed on her own driver’s license.
She’d been Eleanor Anderson since she and Richard had exchanged wedding
vows at the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago thirty-eight years
ago last month.
Claire Anderson.
She couldn’t recall ever hearing Richard mention that particular name.
He’d been an only child, so she couldn’t be a niece. A long-lost
relative? A distant cousin? But if that was the case, surely he would
have told her. Wouldn’t he? After all, she was his wife.
Correction, Eleanor reminded herself dully. She had
been his wife. She was the one he should have turned to. All those
years they were married. You’d think he would have told her something as
important as this. She hung her head, hugging herself close, trying to
remember the last time Richard had held her close.
On second thought, maybe he wouldn’t have told her.
On third thought, obviously he hadn’t told her.
“Claire
Anderson?” Jeffrey’s voice cracked through the black void, trapping her
like a clap of thunder. “Who the hell is Claire Anderson?”
“Yes.
Who is Claire Anderson?” Eleanor echoed to no one in particular.
Though, if Richard happened to be listening from beyond the grave, she
would appreciate him providing some answers. She rubbed her forehead,
sifting through the memories of those who’d crowded the funeral home,
who’d followed them to the cemetery, who’d paid their respects at the
house afterward. So many people, so many faces. The crush was
overwhelming, yet she couldn’t remember seeing anyone she hadn’t known.
No woman she didn’t know.
“I’ve
never met her.” Jim shifted in his chair, his face impassive. “I’ll be
able to tell you more once I speak with her. She lives in Hyde Park.
From what I understand, she’s a professor at the University of Chicago.”
“Why
would Daddy leave his money to some dull old professor?” Genevieve’s
bottom lip jutted out in a pretty pout, a trick Eleanor recalled her
daughter perfecting as a toddler. “Who is she? What’s her connection to
Daddy?”
“I don’t know,” Jim admitted.
She rolled her eyes and turned to her mother. “Do you know her?”
Eleanor
shook her head. She couldn’t imagine what Richard had been thinking.
Why would he change his insurance policy? They were his family. She was
his wife. “No.”
“This is ridiculous,” Genevieve fumed. “I can’t believe no one knows her.”
“Obviously, Dad did,” Jeffrey muttered.
Genevieve
slumped back in her chair, her arms forming a barricade across her
chest. “Someone had better figure out who she is. I have plenty of
questions for her.”
Eleanor
stared wordlessly at her daughter. For once, the two of them were in
complete agreement. Meanwhile, she had a few questions of her own.
Beginning with who exactly was Claire Anderson, and what kind of hold did she have on Richard?
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1 comment:
Hi Jess, thanks so much for hosting me today on your blog! I'm so glad to hear you loved THE OTHER WIFE and that it kept you guessing throughout. Eleanor and Claire are grateful too! ~ Kathleen
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