A Woman's Place [Mass Market Paperback]

Barbara Delinsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1998

Claire Raphael has a happy family life and a successful career. Then, out of the blue, her husband files for divorce on the grounds that she has neglected the children and is having an affair. Neither are true and Claire faces a battle to prove that a working mother is not an unfit mother.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Delinsky (Shades of Grace, LJ 1/96), the author of over 60 novels, has another winner: a woman's story of a marriage gone sour, seasoned with betrayal, disloyalty, unhappiness, and greed. Clair Raphael has a less-than-admirable spouse, yet she is doing her best to be a superwoman, catering to her beloved children and husband and in her spare time building a $20 million business called WickerWise. Returning home from a visit to her dying mother, she finds her children at her in-laws and is presented with a court order to vacate the house and to stay away from the children. Dennis wants a divorce, the house, full custody of the children, a hefty alimony, and half of the business. Add a chauvinistic judge and a biased family court adviser to the mix, and the result is fast and furious reading to see what happens next. Go for it.?Dawn L. Anderson, North Richland Hills P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Prolific author Delinsky's latest novel, although television-movie-of-the-week fare, is certainly compelling right from page one. Claire Raphael is a successful entrepreneur in addition to being a good wife and mother. She and her business partner, Brody, own a chain of furniture stores across the country. Things appear to be going swell, until one day a life-altering jolt comes straight out of left field: Claire is served with papers notifying her that her husband not only intends to divorce her but also has obtained custody of their children--and, as if those things aren't bad enough--she must vacate their house immediately. Surrealistic nightmare that this may seem like, Claire simply can't sit back and wait to wake up; her plight is all too real, and she must battle preconceived notions of "a woman's place" at every turn before achieving a happy ending (with the love and support of partner-turned-lover Brody). Good, sensitive diversionary reading. Brad Hooper --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061096776
• ISBN-13: 978-0061096778
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,992,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara Delinsky, author of ESCAPE (2011), NOT MY DAUGHTER (2010), WHILE MY SISTER SLEEPS (2009), THE SECRET BETWEEN US (2008), and FAMILY TREE (2007), has written more than twenty bestselling novels with over thirty million copies in print. She has been published in twenty languages worldwide. Barbara's fiction centers upon everyday families facing not-so-everyday challenges. She is particularly drawn to exploring themes of motherhood, marriage, sibling rivalry, and friendship in her novels.

A lifelong New Englander, Barbara earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. As a breast cancer survivor who lost her mother to the disease when she was only eight, Barbara compiled the non-fiction book Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors, a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes. She donates her proceeds from the sale of this book to her charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Barbara enjoys knitting, photography, and cats. She also loves to interact with her readers through her website at www.barbaradelinsky.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bdelinsky, and on Twitter as @BarbaraDelinsky.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite Delinsky novels, June 12, 2005

By 

Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Woman's Place (Mass Market Paperback)

A WOMAN'S PLACE by Barbara Delinsky
June 12, 2005

Rating 4/5 stars


A WOMAN'S PLACE by Barbara Delinsky is the story about a woman who finds herself kicked out of her house and not allowed to see her own children, due to the lies of her jerk of a husband. The narrator is Claire Raphael, and she's a successful business owner who earns about five times more than her husband does. It never bothered her that she made more money than her husband did. She loved him unconditionally.

Unfortunately, because she was so absorbed in her job and her children, she failed to see that Dennis was starting to resent her success. After she returns from a trip to visit her ailing mother, she finds that he has filed for divorce and has taken custody of the kids and kicked her out of the house. She has no where to go, except to her best friend and business partner, Brody. Unfortunately, one of the things Dennis has accused her of is infidelity and he claims she has been sleeping with Brody, which is not true at all. Claire has no idea how to fight back, since Dennis is telling all sorts of lies about her and the judge has taken his side.

I have to say this is one of my favorite books by Delinsky so far. The plot was well-developed, making it a fast read with so much going on - Claire's issue with her own family (sibling rivalry and a mother that has only seen Claire as the good daughter), Claire's need to be with her children, and finally the demise of her marriage. The reader will watch as Claire goes through the legal motions to get her life back, and with the help of a lawyer who actually cares (as opposed to the judge who seems to think all women belong barefoot and pregnant), Claire fights for what belongs to her. Some may see this as a somewhat soap-opera-ish type of novel, but I found myself wanting to read this in one sitting and wishing Claire could find a way to fight back against her husband.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Successful Business Woman's Worst Nightmare, July 6, 2000

By 

Holli M Messenger (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Woman's Place (Mass Market Paperback)

I love this book because the writing is excellent but the story is one of the most compelling I've ever read. Delinsky made me care about the characters, to the point where I wanted to cry, laugh and scream at times. I can honestly say I hated being interupted when reading it and couldn't wait to get back into it. I think this is the best Delinsky book I've read thus far.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best One Yet!, June 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: A Woman's Place: A Novel (Hardcover)

Bravo for Barbara Delinsky. A Woman's Place captures the real-life trauma one woman faces when her world falls apart. This book is smart, thoughtfu, realistic and, for me, portrayed each character with balance and tolerance. I was struck particularly by the main character's strength and how she was able to negotiate and survive one of the most difficult experiences a woman can face. As a reader, I felt her horror and her confusion; this is the sign of a well-crafted and successful book. I heartily recommend A Woman's Place and look forward to Barbara's next book