Wife by Charlotte Mendelson
Mendelson writes a confusing, scary and insightful look into a NOT-SO-PERFECT relationship.
A female-female romance that I find extremely disturbing, yet very real. Mendelson does a great job, I believe, at not causing her readers to hate either of the two women involved. I’m not saying you’ll side with one at the beginning and think differently as the story develops; that’ll happen, believe me – hopefully, you’ll gain some understanding of how easy it can be to descend into a similar rabbit hole.
Zoe is a university student when she first falls in love with Dr Penny Cartwright. Aware of the age gap between them, Zoe doesn’t care. She falls head over heels in love with Penny and is determined to make things work out, as it’s her first serious lesbian relationship. Unlike Penny, Zoe has never come out to her family. Her mother, Trica, disowns her, while her father, Clive, might not like that his daughter is a lesbian, but he does his best to remain civil so as not to completely push his daughter away.
Quickly, Penny starts manipulating Zoe by using the age gap against her. You’re so much younger and wouldn’t understand that drunk stripping in front of friends was no big deal. It is when one of these friends stands and takes photographs of you.
The plot jumps from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, although this isn’t specified by Mendelson. Subtitled with Now and Then, the jumping back and forth I always find confusing in novels. Whilst I found this complex at times, it wasn’t as bad as some of the other books I have read.
Turning the couple’s friends against Zoe when she can’t take it anymore, many turn on her, making her question whether she’s doing the right thing or simply making everything worse, not just for Penny, but also for their children.
“Oh God, what have we done?” Zoe – Chapter 20
With the escalating trouble in Zoe and Penny’s relationship, Zoe begins to realise that both of them were responsible for passing the issues down to their children, even though it was none of the children’s fault. Zoe is attempting to seek professional help for herself and try marriage counselling for herself and Penny. Penny refuses and questions the counsellor’s integrity, having not had any clients who were lesbian before. Understandable, but the way Mandelson writes out the situation, the professionals are only trying to help and not cause offence.
Ending upon the blurb from the iNewspaper
“A terrific panic attack of a novel.”