A Reliable Wife
Ratings17
Average rating3.1
Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt ― a passionate man with his own dark secrets ―has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.
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Very adult themed novel. I do not recommend this for anyone under the age of 21
Catherine is the worst sort of woman out there. But she markets herself as a reliable woman who would make a good wife. She answers an ad placed in a paper by Ralph Truitt and soon is on her way across country via train to meet and marry him.
As they settle into their lives together, Catherine begins to learn more about him. She thinks about her plans and the future she is going to have as a rich widow. Ralph soon asks her to go to Chicago and find his son. He wants him to come home. But there is more to the story than Catherine is willing to admit. Off she goes to Chicago, where she resumes the affair she was having with the son. After a while she returns home to Ralph and systematically begins to poison him to death. There comes a point where she can no longer inflict pain upon him, and she is sure that she loves him. She begins to help him heal.
Antonio is furious and wants his father dead. He wants his money and the life that he feels he deserves. Catherine begins to resist him, and refuses to be a part of the plan any longer. She has not told anyone the biggest secret that she is carrying.
It is all going to come down to one final show down, and there can only be one person left standing.
Great mystery with a gothic feel. Lots of twists and turns that left me guessing what would happen next.
