The Doctor's Wife [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Brundage (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2004

From the outside, the Knowles family appeared to have it all—a loving marriage, two beautiful children, a home in an idyllic part of the countryside in upstate New York. Michael is a rising OB/GYN at a prominent private practice, his wife, Annie, teaches at a local college. But Annie’s role as “the doctor’s wife” has worn thin, and Michael has answered the call of an old flame to moonlight at the local women’s health center, the city’s only provider of abortions.

These subtle cracks in their life widen when anonymous threats arrive at their home. The reason for this intimidation is not at all clear—is it, as seems to be the case, the work of religious extremists opposed to what Michael is doing? Or are these violent warnings meant for Annie? For she has made at least one certain enemy in town—Lydia Haas, the painter’s wife, a disturbed young woman with a cellar full of her own dark secrets.

Told in the alternating viewpoints of Michael, Annie, Simon, and Lydia—four fascinating and complex characters—The Doctor’s Wife is steeped in psychological suspense, compelling and compulsively readable.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A suspense novel crossed with a literary exploration of infidelity and marital rancor, Elizabeth Brundage's ambitious debut, The Doctor's Wife, provides more than the usual kick of adrenalin for readers. In a small town in upstate New York, urban transplants Annie and Michael Knowles--he is a rising OB/GYN, and she is a once-trailblazing journalist who has settled into a teaching job--hope to escape the noise and bustle of the city. But both are drawn into danger: Annie begins an affair with an infamous (and married) painter, Simon Haas, and Michael is coaxed into helping an ex-lover at her family planning clinic. He performs abortions for poor women, and tries to ignore the cars that follow him home and the increasingly threatening phone calls. ometimes Brundage perfectly navigates the twisting, overlapping elements of her complicated story line, but other times gives us too much at a time. And one of her characters, Simon's disturbed wife Lydia Haas, is so fascinating that she puts the others in the shade. Nevertheless, this is a rich first novel and a promising beginning for its author. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

Set against the backdrop of the battle for abortion rights, this timely but stilted debut thriller features a perfect yuppie couple. Michael Knowles is a successful OB-GYN and his wife, Annie, is a popular journalism professor; they have two precious kids and a big, airy home in upstate New York. But once Michael accepts a position at the only abortion clinic in town, the already heavy strain that his doctor's schedule puts on their marriage sends Annie into the arms of a colleague, notorious painter Simon Haas. Meanwhile, Michael receives increasingly hostile threats from creepy antiabortion activists, suggesting that one, or both, of the Knowles are targets of a vicious terror campaign. The painter's childlike young wife, Lydia, as a menacing, tormented Bible-thumper scarred by a harsh, loveless upbringing, is the enigma that fuels Brundage's examination of what happens when we are drawn to the very things that promise to destroy us. But the lessons here are heavy-handed and the characterizations mechanical. The bad guys wear mirrored sunglasses as they force Michael off the road; the good guys wear jackets emblazoned with angel's wings; and the dialogue is delivered in short sound bites scripted for a TV cliffhanger. The Knowles' storybook marriage takes a number of dark, twisted turns, but the lack of character nuance and depth blunt Brundage's stab at psychological suspense.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1ST edition (June 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670033162
• ISBN-13: 978-0670033164
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,060,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of Suspense, Memorable Characters and Compelling Issues, June 26, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Doctor's Wife (Hardcover)

Perhaps I'm in danger of becoming one of those cynical single urbanites, but whenever I pick up a novel that starts out with a seemingly perfect couple and their seemingly perfect children, living in a seemingly perfect neighborhood, I want to rub my hands together with glee. You just KNOW it's all going downhill from there. But even this cynical urbanite was surprised by the depths to which Elizabeth Brundage will go with her characters. And THE DOCTOR'S WIFE is all the better for it. Note here: if your book club has gotten too genteel lately and is in need of a good cage-rattling, this is just the novel to do it.

THE DOCTOR'S WIFE is set in upstate New York --- civil, picturesque, well-mannered upstate New York --- and centers on Michael and Annie Knowles, the kind of couple that sits around listening to NPR's soothing, well-modulated liberal voices on Sunday mornings while doing the crossword in the Times; the smell of their toasted designer bagels mingling with the scent of their designer coffee, while their perfect children in Gap chic are playing nearby before rushing off to soccer and other mainstays of suburban life. Michael is a young, extremely busy and successful OB/GYN at a prominent hospital; Annie is a Miss Porter's School-educated college professor who teaches creative writing (naturally). But wait --- is that a rat we smell amidst the Starbucks?

Annie is growing bored being "the doctor's wife," particularly since the Good Doctor is never around. It appears that Doc's bell is being rung these days by Celina James, an old flame who appeals to much more than Michael's libido --- she has a good-sized socio-political agenda wrapped up in the shape of her Women's Health Clinic, the town's only provider of abortions. Celina enlists Michael to help her at the Clinic, and soon Michael's already-limited free time from the hospital is being spent at Celina's clinic. There are no sparks between them these days except professional ones, but clearly he prefers the energy of Celina to Annie's world.

Unfortunately for Michael, the guy who IS around for Annie just happens to be Tall, Brooding, Successful-yet-Misunderstood Suffering Artist-turned-Art-Professor Simon Haas. Never mind that Simon himself is married to the beautiful Lydia Haas, his longtime muse, though she has enough skeletons in her closet to populate a Grateful Dead concert. When the Knowles family starts getting all kinds of anonymous threats, it's not clear at first where they're coming from or why --- are they the work of the Right-Wing Extremists running around town protesting Michael's moonlighting gig, or are these more personal in nature?

What evolves is a novel of psychological suspense that is edgy and compelling. Brundage's sense of plot and timing is impeccable, and she really knows how to hook a reader from the very first chapter. The action starts with a kidnapping and it does not let up from there. The story unfolds with many of the twists coming out of the past.

While her characters were multi-faceted, complex and memorable --- particularly the Haas family --- I confess to being ultimately disappointed in the somewhat black-and-white view she took on the abortion issue. The way the characters are depicted, everyone who feels abortion is wrong is not only half-crazy but leans so far to the "Religious Right" that they're in danger of falling over. Still, enough time and devotion are spent developing all of the primary characters to keep this from being overwhelmingly negative. In fact, even the two-dimensional characters provide ample fodder for discussion.

Surprisingly, this is Brundage's first novel and is sure to be a tough act to follow --- although I for one will be looking forward to seeing her try. Full of suspense, memorable characters and thought-provoking issues, I can pretty much guarantee that THE DOCTOR'S WIFE will be making its rounds for a long time to come.

--- Reviewed by Lourdes Orive

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sensitive Book to Savor, June 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Doctor's Wife (Hardcover)

A recently published review of this book calls it wooden.
I strongly take issue with the critic and wonder if in fact
he/she read it in its entirety, as it is anything but...

I consider myself a serious reader, preferring to read for
language rather than content. I found this book to be
extremely well crafted, tightly edited, with a strong involving
plot line, nuanced character development, and an imaginative structure
that is neither confusing nor obtuse.

The lovely, occasionally harsh, readily poignant use of language,
informs the complexities of the characters
making them not so dark as much as human,
drenching them in a full range of sincere humanity and all its
foibles.

Whether on the beach this summer or sitting reflectively
with a pencil underscoring the delicious use of language,
I heartily recommend The Doctor's Wife.

This is an extremely impressive debut novel which
I intend to savor with a second read.

53 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling story!, July 9, 2004

By 

Judith C. Oswood (Marshalltown, IA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Doctor's Wife (Hardcover)

This is a story about marital infidelity and mental psychosis. That sounds pretty heavy for a good book, but it works. The book centers around two married couples: Simon and Lydia Haas and Michael and Annie Knowles. Their lives intertwine in a shocking and fascinating way. The climax of the book was satisfying and exciting. I kind of stumbled upon this book at the library one day and thought I'd try it. I'm glad I did.