"Nora Spangler is a successful attorney but when it comes to domestic life, she packs the lunches, schedules the doctor appointments, knows where the extra paper towel rolls are, and designs and orders the holiday cards. Her husband works hard, too...but why does it seem like she is always working so much harder? When the Spanglers go house hunting in Dynasty Ranch, an exclusive suburban neighborhood, Nora meets a group of high-powered women--a tech CEO, a neurosurgeon, an award-winning therapist, a bestselling author-with ...
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"Nora Spangler is a successful attorney but when it comes to domestic life, she packs the lunches, schedules the doctor appointments, knows where the extra paper towel rolls are, and designs and orders the holiday cards. Her husband works hard, too...but why does it seem like she is always working so much harder? When the Spanglers go house hunting in Dynasty Ranch, an exclusive suburban neighborhood, Nora meets a group of high-powered women--a tech CEO, a neurosurgeon, an award-winning therapist, a bestselling author-with enviably supportive husbands. When she agrees to help with a resident's wrongful death case, she is pulled into the lives of the women there. She finds the air is different in Dynasty Ranch. The women aren't hanging on by a thread. But as the case unravels, Nora uncovers a plot that may explain the secret to having-it-all. One that's worth killing for. Calling to mind a Stepford Wives gender-swap, The Husbands imagines a world where the burden of the "second shift" is equally shared--and what it may take to get there"--
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Add this copy of The Husbands: a Novel to cart. $1.25, fair condition, Sold by Once Upon A Time Books rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tontitown, AR, UNITED STATES, published 2023 by Flatiron Books.
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Fair. This is a used book. It may contain highlighting/underlining and/or the book may show heavier signs of wear. It may also be ex-library or without dustjacket. This is a used book. It may contain highlighting/underlining and/or the book may show heavier signs of wear. It may also be ex-library or without dustjacket.
Add this copy of The Husbands: a Novel to cart. $1.84, very good condition, Sold by The Maryland Book Bank rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2023 by Flatiron Books.
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Add this copy of The Husbands to cart. $1.99, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Flatiron Books.
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I've written before about my hatred of taglines when it comes to marketing for books. 'A twist you WILL NEVER SEE coming' is a particular bugbear - well now you've told me there's a twist I'm going to be spending my entire read looking for it and scrutinising every character and interaction! Inevitably when this happens I think I've got the twist worked out, only to find out the actual ending isn't as good as the one I'd guessed. 'A hilarious read' also annoys me, it heightens my expectations so if I only find myself chuckling half-heartedly I come away disappointed. If I'd known nothing about the book I might have been caught off-guard by the humour and enjoyed it a lot more!
The Husbands falls into this trap in another way with a blurb that boasts from the outset - 'Little Fires Everywhere meets The Stepford Wives'. Now this may be ok if you have not heard of those two books, but they usually pick titles that are engrained into pop culture and highly popular. I'll come back to why this is problematic in a moment...
The Husbands follows wife Nora who is a high-powered attorney trying to walk that difficult balance of career and home-life. She feels like her marriage is stagnating as her husband does not help enough around the home. They visit an open house for a neighbourhood where they find the perfect home and would be surrounded by top tier career women all with very home-dedicated husbands who just want to do their best for the women in their lives. The book is a slow build, there's a lot of hints that things aren't quite right, a fire to be investigated and some shady red herring characters along the way. It's only until right at the end that the twist is revealed as to what is really going on. However, the blurb informs us from the outset that this book is like The Stepford Wives and if you've read or watched the movie you know exactly what that means! Rather than the intended slow-burn, uneasy read for most of the book, I guessed the twist from a few pages in and the tension build just got a bit boring! If this comparison hadn't been made I might not have guessed until a lot later in to the book. There is a final twist right at the end which I really enjoyed but I was sad to have the main ending spoiled by the book's own blurb!
Although the book is a bit predictable it does make some excellent points about the imbalance of domestic roles in modern marriage - particularly with women also trying to have high powered careers. From the authors notes at the end it seems that this comes from personal experience and this really shines through. One phrase has really stuck with me, to paraphrase - 'how can domestic life truly be split 50/50 when one side has never experience 100%?' It's a really interesting question and I can see how frustrating it must be for women, even without having had the experience of motherhood. Although I enjoyed (not sure that's the right word) these musings, I didn't think the article and comment style approach that was used for some chapters worked though.
Overall, The Husbands is a well written, engaging read but is sadly spoiled by its own marketing strategy. Thank you to NetGalley & Little Brown Book UK - Sphere, for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
