I was really interested in this book because it was about the lives of the wives of famous authors. However, it was a very hard read. Many of these wives were mistreated. Still, I recommend this for those interested in the personal lives of famous authors.

A look into the private lives of another time of five relationships and how these wmen made sacrifices to support their literary partners. To boost their egos, to put their own careers on hold, to look the other way when it came to infidelity, to suffer trauma without emotional support. How these wives endured broken hearts and promises, faced the dark side of motherhood, and dreams pushed aside. The cruelty displayed between these partners was at times so difficult to read that I had to skim through paragraphs because it was so disturbing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Although I very much liked the authors writing I found this book incredibly depressing, especially the life of Patricia Neal and her horrible marriage to the rude, nasty, anti-semetic, misogynist author Roald Dahl. The author did a fabulous research job and laid their lives bare on the page, but I can’t understand why someone with her talent could subject herself to that life. As well as the other women who subjugated themselves to their husband and man’s idea of marriage at that time. The fact that the book ends with this marriage left me feeling down about the entire book.

Examines the role, personality and enigma of literary wives. I absolutely enjoyed the epic nonfiction narrative of these women, who they were and what they brought to the writer’s work.