"Meg Wolitzer is so funny and clever she should be bottled and sold as tonic" (Allison Pearson)"A triumph of tone and observation, The Wife is a blithe, brilliant take on sexual politics" (Lorrie Moore)"Hilarious and touching" (Erica Wagner, The Times)"With a great lightness of touch, Wolitzer's novel satirises American literary circles of the Seventies and Eighties and traces the generation of wives who poured their own creative energies into "stoking the fires" of their husbands' reputations." (Emma Hagestadt, Independent)"The wife was published less than a decade ago, but I say it is already a classic - and I have no idea why it's author remains so less well known than her US compatriots, Alison Lurie and Lorrie Moore." (Observer)

A Husband. A Wife. Their SecretJoe and Joan Castleman are en route to Helsinki. Joe is thinking about the prestigious literary prize he will receive there, while Joan is plotting how to leave him. For too long she has played the role of supportive wife, turning a blind eye to his misdemeanours, whilst quietly being the keystone of his success. But behind the compromises, the disappointment and disillusionment there lies a secret?