Customer Reviews

An Inconvenient Wife

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was a really good book set in NYC in 1885. A time when women were allowed no freedoms, and her place was to see to the house, the servants, and her husband. This is Lucy Carlton's story. A woman who was born into wealth and privilege, bred to be the epitome of high-class and high society. Lucy marries William Carlton, a stock-broker who is not of her class, but makes enough money for the upper-class folks that they seemingly except him.

Lucy struggles with fits of hysteria, and frequent headaches, and is absent or leaves early from many social gatherings. William has taken her to doctor after doctor, and nothing seems to be working...untill she starts seeing Dr. Victor Seth. Dr. Seth is a doctor of neurology, something the folks of 1885 have never heard of before. No one knows what to think of his treatments of hypnotism, but the therapy is working wonders for Lucy...for the most part.

Dr. Seth proves to be the best and worst thing to happen to Lucy. While the hysteria fits have ended, new problems start plaguing her. She finds herself doing and feeling things that are totally foreign to her, and make William feel threatened. In the end, Lucy and William's life together will never be the same, and lies and scandal hit the high society of NYC.

Overall a great read...the ending was excellent, something I never would of expected, and the descriptions of the time period were wonderful. The clothes, the houses, the way of life for the most important citizens of NYC, and the limitations on women of the day. I definitely won't think twice about picking up another book from this author!

Lucy always wanted to be free to be her own woman but as she was being raised by her father, he buried her spirit by making Lucy give up anything that was important to her... religion, poetry, and painting. Once she was married, her husband did the same thing because he wanted a proper woman who acted the way a woman of the upper class should act. With no way to live out her dreams, Lucy suffered from hysteria and was not able to conceive a child. William sent her to many doctors to help her but nobody could until Victor Seth came into the picture. He was a neurologist that used hypnosis to help women with nerve problems. His treatment was unkown and criticized, but they were willing to try as a last resort before sending Lucy to the asylum. Victor made great strides with the treatment of Lucy and in the process they became involved with each other. Lucy was cured, but then she became an "inconvenience" to William because he could no longer control her. When William found out what was going on between Lucy and Victor he sent her away against her wishes which brought on a chain of events that has serious repercussions.

I found Megan Chance when she published Susannah Morrow and I really enjoyed it so I figured I would try An Inconvenient Wife too. Megan is a very talented author that has the rare ability to bring you into a story and keep you there right to the end.

This book is what I imagine would have happened to Rose (Titanic) if she had married Cal (the "bad guy")and gone on to suffer the marriage/life restrictions of her era and class. It is very well-written in first-person and occurs in Victorian New York. Lucy suffers from "hysteria," a common diagnosis of female neuroses in that time, and her socially-conscious husband takes her to the new doctor in town, Dr. Victor Seth. Dr. Seth's treatments and ensuing relationship with Lucy create interesting emotional dilemmas for Lucy, her husband and Dr. Seth. The story and plot were original, absorbing and shocking: womens' health issues were not treated back then as they are today! I highly recommend this book if you seek a change from the "cookie-cutter" variety of historical fiction or romance novels.

When I first started getting serious about historical fiction I came across this book many times. It even was on my whish list for a while but in the end I decided to focus on areas that were more interesting to me like the middle ages and early age of enlightenment. In the past few days I had the opportunity to read "An Inconvenient Wife" and I was completely stunned by how good this book was.

This book is written like a mystery almost, but without the mystery. It's about long ago medical practices know thought of ridiculous and insane but it manages not to make fun of them and to stay very much in the period. And it has the most stunning characterization of any book I've read in a long time.

Lucy is a very inconvenient wife. Over the four years of her marriage to her very upper class Knickerbockers father's stockbroker she has had fits, headaches, weakness, is addicted to laudanum and has been unable to conceive, all of which is trying the patience of her loving husband William. Finally at the end of his rope William takes Lucy to the newest doctor in New York, a new breed of physician called a neurologist, a man named Victor Seth.

Told through Lucy's first person prospective and Victor's clinical notes, the story unfolds into a complicated tale of thwarted desire and passion. Lucy's medical problems deemed to be from a lack of passion and as Victor works with hypnosis they improve but he is soon of possession of Lucy's deepest secrets while William, facing the new and improved Lucy is daunted and displeased.

Everyone in this book is a complicated and complete person and that is what the book so good. Lucy-what is wrong with her? I couldn't make heads or tails of her medical problems and growing personality. Is she truly improved-or is at all just the power of suggestion? And does the same apply to her new personality? Victor is equally troubling because of his control over Lucy through hypnosis. Is he really just seeing her as an experiment or is he truly beginning to care for her? Is he horrifying or just brilliant? And William-well in a way William has the biggest secret of all.

This is a stunning book that is highly atmospheric of high society in old New York and what women had to go through to be seen as socially acceptable. The whole "hysteria" diagnosis is horrifying and a reminder of how little we used to know about the human brain. And the book has a twisty, swervy often dark plot with things you will never expect. In the end though, it is about the creation or unveiling of a true soul and watching Lucy change, from the very first line of the book to the very last, is a fascinating journey you will not soon forget.

Five stars.

Socialite Lucy Carelton has been plagued with problems throughout her married life; she suffers from "fits" and has been diagnosed with hysteria as well as various other neurological disorders. Furthermore, she has failed to conceive a child, which, for a late 19th century woman, is virtually her sole life's purpose. Lucy, however, has always wanted more, which is what got her into trouble in the first place. In the book's prelude, Lucy's latest doctor suggests that she be placed in an asylum, which both Lucy and her husband view as out of the question.

Fast-forward to one year later: there's a new doctor in town. Dr. Victor Seth is the subject of both controversy and praise, and at her husband's urging, Lucy becomes his patient. Not longer after, however, her husband begins to question this decision. Lucy seems better, yet she is engaging in "strange" behavior such as drawing--something her father forbade her to do as a child. The more Lucy works with Dr. Seth, the more independent she becomes, and at the same time, the boudaries of the doctor-patient relationship begin to blur. This story is at times riveting, at times shocking, and overall a worthwhile read.

I won't summarize the story since it has been discussed in many of the other reviews but instead only share my opinion. This book was well-written, the tone especially appropriate for the setting. I chose this book because I looked forward to historical fiction set in New York City and Newport, RI during the late 19th century, and I was intrigued to learn more about how women, particularly wealthy women, were treated during this time period. However, I found myself exclaiming, "You've got to be kidding me!" more and more as the story unfolded. I finished the book just to see if it was going to be as predictable as I expected. What women of this time period endured was truly unforgivable, and I did feel for Lucy's many (too many) trials. But even though I chose this book as an easy read and obviously wasn't expecting compelling "literature," I also wasn't expecting such an inane plot. I can do a good Lifetime movie or soap opera as well as the rest of them, but for me, this story pushed pass my tolerance for contrived melodrama.

I ordered Megan Chance's An Inconvenient Wife from Amazon on impulse. I tend to love books about the "upper classes" in Victorian New York. I love Edith Wharton and gobbled up Caleb Carr's two books (The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness) on that period with relish. E.L. Doctrow's Ragtime: A Novel is still one of my favorite books. So when I read the description of An Inconvenient Wife it sounded like my kind of book. It arrived Thursday at 4, I finished it last night at midnight.

I won't say it was a great book comparable to Doctrow, Carr and, of course, Wharton. It didn't have their scope but it was a darn entertaining read and, quite frankly, even though I suspected what might happen next, it was filled with surprises. In fact the last paragraph of the book is still on my mind --- did she really mean what I think she meant?

The story in brief is this: Lucy, descended from a very upper class, prestigious, old NY Money family is married to William, a nice enough young social climber who is certainly respectable but far beneath her status. Lucy is prone to "incidents", she has failed to conceive, numbs herself with laudanum, is too outspoken in social situations, and generally embarrasses her socially-conscious husband. Her husband takes her from one doctor to another hoping to cure her embarrassing (to him) behavior. Eventually he hears about the controversial neurologist Victor Seth who treats patients using hypnotherapy. At first it seems Dr. Seth is something of a miracle worker --- until everything gets very confusing. That's as much as I'll tell you, I don't want to spoil the story.

The most disturbing aspect of the story is just how powerless women of that era were. Their fathers and husbands had total control over every aspect of their lives. How these poor women endured the social pressures of the time is a mystery to me. On the surface they were glittering, pampered jewels but underneath the illusion was a life that was so regimented, controlled and proscribed it was little better than a prison. Lucy is intelligent, talented and, above all, passionate --- all of which embarrass her husband. The scenes when she is confined to an asylum are disturbing but even more disturbing is her husband's reaction when she attempts to introduce some passion into their intimate life. "I thought you were a lady," he tells her as he backs away.

It is never productive to judge the behaviors of characters in one era by the standards of a different era. I've read reviews of this book that express incredulity at the way various characters acted but within the context of the times, they seem perfectly believable to me. The writing style is clean, quick, efficient and highly readable. I'm a reader who gets annoyed when the writing style gets in the way of the story. That is never a problem in this book.

Ultimately, when the story is told and the book is closed there are still a lot of haunting questions. Is this what Dr. Seth really intended? Did he create a monster or did he bite off more than he could chew? How much was a product of science and how much of desire? And, above all, how much influence did he really have? Who used whom? I liked this book. I'll be thinking about it for awhile and that is something I appreciate writers for. Well done.

I hate / love getting so involved in a book that I can't stand to put it down. It's the best sense of filling the creative well, not to mention one of those journeys into another time and place that only happens with the best historical novels. This is / was one of those. I think Megan Chance rivals Judith Ivory and Laura Kinsale for creating emotional resonance. And this time was no different. But what *was* different was that this book is not marketed as a romance, but as historical fiction. Which made it an incredibly involving, compelling, and totally satisfying read - with a twist! Adultery, murder, hysteria, hypnosis, uterine monomania *g*, asylums, neurology, phrenology, mesmerism . . . all the things missing in so many historical stories, LOL!

Just an amazingly brilliant book.

The first half of this book was excellent - captivating historical fiction and well written. Then something happened. The author apparently took ill or ran away to the hills. I figure someone else finished this book because it took a sharp detour down shallow, silly Harlequin Romance Highway.

I couldn't put this book once I had started it. I found the subject matter & time & place great. Poor Lucy. I almost found myself in hysterics while reading about the way her husband & father treated & manipulated her. This is a great read. Don't miss this one. I will now seek out other books by this author.