Portobello Book Blog

My Husband’s Wives is the story of the secrets which top Irish cardiologist, Paul Starr, has kept from the women in his life. Paul is killed in a car crash with a young pregnant woman in the car beside him. Evie, Grace and Annaliese’s lives are changed forever. Paul has been married to each of these women but there are major secrets he has been keeping from them. The book explores the effects that Paul’s death has on each woman as his secrets are revealed.

I found this a compelling read and was quite fascinated by the reaction of the women to the death of this significant man in their lives. Paul was married first to Evie who was quite a bit older than him. He left her for Grace, a successful artist, and had a child with her. Later he leaves Grace for Annaliese, a former beauty queen trying to revive her career, and they have two children together. But who is the mysterious Kasia who was in the car with him and is he the father of her child?

Despite the circumstances, the women form unlikely bonds as they begin to realise just what Paul has meant to each of them. It was interesting that the one person you don’t hear from – can’t hear from – is Paul himself. Although to the reader it seems he has been a rather selfish and self-indulgent man, through the wives you can feel some sympathy for him and an understanding of why he behaved as he did. It is hard to imagine how you would react in the same situation but I’m not sure I would be as gracious as Evie for example! And yet, Faith Hogan has written her characters in a way that seems quite natural and plausible. 

Faith Hogan’s writing was compelling and each woman had a strong individual voice. I enjoyed getting to know all four of the women and learning about their relationships with Paul. I also liked how they were drawn together by Paul’s deceit becoming a strong supportive group of friends. Although you might think they had cause to hate each other, in fact Paul’s death was the catalyst which enabled them all to move on with their lives and become like a family to each other, in many ways the family they had all longed for but never had. A moving story of how people react very differently to grief, it is also a story of how the strongest friendships can grow from the most unlikely of circumstances. 

My thanks to Blake at Head of Zeus for my copy of this book. My Husband’s Wives was published by Aria (the new digital only imprint from Head of Zeus) on 1 May 2016. You can order a copy here for only 99p at the time of writing this: My Husband’s Wives

From the back of the book

One man, three wives, too many secrets. A heart-warming story of love, loss, family and friendship. A compelling debut that fans of Freya North will love.

Paul Starr, Ireland’s leading cardiologist dies in a car crash with a pregnant young woman by his side.

United in their grief and the love of one man, four women are thrown together in an attempt to come to terms with life after Paul. They soon realise they never really knew him at all.

The love they shared for Paul in his life and which incensed a feeling of mistrust and dislike for each other, in his death turns into the very thing that bonds them and their children to each other, forever.

As they begin to form unlikely friendships, Paul’s death proves to be the catalyst that enables them to become the people they always wanted to be.