The Spinster Wife

You’ll never see the twist coming in this gripping novel of love and loss by bestselling author Christina McKenna.

Rita-Mae has lived in fear for as long as she can remember. Fear of being alone, fear of her past and, above all, fear of her husband, Harry. Until she spots an advertisement for a vacant cottage in a small town in Northern Ireland. She makes her escape filled with hope, ready to start a new life in a new home, free from the pain of her past. But her place of refuge may not be as safe—or as anonymous—as she thought.

In another small town, Dorrie wakes up unaware of where she is or how she got there. Adrift in a world for which she has no explanation, she needs to find answers quickly—before her shadowy past catches up with her.

Walled in by secrets and with no one to trust, both Rita-Mae and Dorrie are unsure how to move forward. Can each woman face her inner demons and confront a menacing presence from the past once and for all? Or will the past unravel their second chance at life?

Christina McKenna grew up near the village of Draperstown, Northern Ireland. She attended the Belfast College of Art, where she obtained an honours degree in Fine Art. Having studied English as a postgraduate at the University of Ulster, she taught abroad for several years. She has lived, worked and painted pictures in Spain, Turkey, Italy, Ecuador and Mexico.

In 2004 she published a memoir, followed by two non-fiction titles on the paranormal: The Dark Sacrament (2006) and Ireland’s Haunted Women (2010).

In 2011 she embarked on the Tailorstown Trilogy, a series of novels set in and around a fictional Ulster village. The books—The Misremembered Man, The Disenchanted Widow and The Godforsaken Daughter—were highly successful and have been translated into several languages.