The Ninth Wife
A Novel
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3.6 • 119 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
"In this funny and engaging novel, Amy Stolls shows us that real–life romance is rarely as clear–cut as it seems. The Ninth Wife is a vibrant, nuanced novel about marriage, identity and the moment when we realize that the shimmer of fantasy pales next to the tumultuous reality of ordinary, everyday happiness.” — Carolyn Parkhurst, author of The Dogs of Babel
A smart, funny, eye-opening tale of love, marriage, and the power of stories to unlock the true meaning of home and family.
What sane woman would consider becoming any man's ninth wife?
Bess Gray is a thirty-five-year-old folklorist and amateur martial artist living in Washington, DC. Just as she's about to give up all hope of marriage, she meets Rory, a charming Irish musician, and they fall in love. But Rory is a man with a secret, which he confesses to Bess when he asks for her hand: He's been married eight times before. Shocked, Bess embarks on a quest she feels she must undertake before she can give him an answer.
With her long-married, bickering grandparents, her neighbor (himself a mystery), a shar-pei named Stella, and a mannequin named Peace, Bess sets out on a cross-country journey—unbeknownst to Rory—to seek out and question the wives who came before. What she discovers about herself and her own past is far more than she bargained for.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bess Gray, single and in her thirties, is starting to despair of ever finding a decent man in the Washington D.C. area. But that all changes when she meets Irish musician Rory McMillan. They hit it off immediately and within a few months he asks for her hand. What he doesn't say is that she would be accompanying him on his ninth walk down the aisle. Once he confesses he's been married eight times before, Bess doesn't know what to think or what to do. So she takes a cross country trip with her older neighbor, Cricket, a gay man, and her grandparents, who will move into an assisted care facility when they reach Arizona. Along the way, Bess hunts down Rory's ex-wives and try to figure out what sort of a man could have eight of them, in the process learning a great deal about relationships, love, and trust. Stolls's (Palms to the Ground) first foray into adult fiction offers a nuanced take on relationships. Though the book shines most brightly in Rory's reflections, the contrivance of the road trip mars an otherwise interesting tale.
Customer Reviews
The Ninth Wife
There is a saying that everyone is only 6 acquaintances away from everyone else, and this is certainly true in this book, except it is more like 3 acquaintances. It was an enjoyable journey. The characters were real and likable. It ended with me feeling I had missed a hidden message from the author, but I don't know if that was my fault or the author's; or maybe there was no hidden truth. It was a little slow at times, and convoluted, but I definitely recommend this book.
A quizzical read
The story is like a well spoken comedian who launches into a quaint and expressive analysis of ones life. You think this is a linear composition until the book ends with the dragon eating her tale. I quite enjoyed it.
Pun intended. 😏
Good read
Despite being over 500 pages this story moved along nicely from the first page. The characters and storyline are well developed- it wasn't too deep but thought provoking just the same...