Preview

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

A Reliable Wife

By: Robert Goolrick
Narrated by: Mark Feuerstein
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.19

Buy for $17.19

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Robert Goolrick's riveting debut novel is both foreboding and sensual. When a wealthy man first meets his mail-order bride in 1907, he realizes this statuesque beauty is anything but a "simple missionary's daughter." But he doesn't know of her devious plan to leave Wisconsin as a rich widow. Nor does she know of the furious demons he longs to unleash during the lonely months of snowbound isolation.
©2009 Robert Goolrick (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Editorial reviews

Stinging needles of snow plunge rural Wisconsin into isolating despair as this erotic psychological thriller unravels in the autumn of 1907. Wealthy businessman Ralph Truitt, remote and severe, awaits his dowdy mail-order bride on a gloomy railroad platform, too restrained even to shiver in public. "I am a simple honest woman," she has written him.

When glossy-haired Catherine Land, his young wife-to-be, slips off the train, she collapses Ralph with her unexpected beauty and stillness. Ralph, in turn, shatters Catherine with his growly security and kindness. Each is deceiving the other. Tony Moretti, Ralph's ruthless estranged son, eventually sinks their schemes. A Reliable Wife is Gothic suspense, so secrets leak, blood spills, arsenic drips, and past wrongs are avenged.

Novelist Robert Goolrick knots chilling plot twists with ruined characters. Brittle Catherine buries her depraved adulthood by cloning the "manners of her fellow travelers exactly", down to cleaning her own hairbrush so maids will remark on her good breeding. She holes up in public libraries and steams through encyclopedias and card catalogs, collecting facts for her reinvention as a virginal missionary's daughter. Ralph punishes his roaring sensuality with ice water and listless dinner parties. He is a joyless grind. Love, meanwhile, bores Tony with its "lack of event...the same steady heartbeat".

Mark Feuerstein narrates A Reliable Wife in hypnotic murmurs to resist competing with Goolrick's lush, poetic language and explicit sexual dialogue. He bundles his velvety reading voice into a steady purr, lulling and tranquilizing against overwrought subtexts of hysteria. Feuerstein is unhurried, though never halting. He chronicles Catherine and Ralph's broken tangle with unadorned inflections and conspiratorial silences. Feuerstein invests his characters with authentic hearts, even if they, themselves, are not in true possession of one. Nita Rao

Critic reviews

"A sublime murder ballad that doesn't turn out at all the way one might expect." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"This darkly nuanced psychological tale builds to a strong and satisfying close." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about A Reliable Wife

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    302
  • 4 Stars
    362
  • 3 Stars
    318
  • 2 Stars
    144
  • 1 Stars
    124
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    210
  • 4 Stars
    189
  • 3 Stars
    131
  • 2 Stars
    38
  • 1 Stars
    22
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    186
  • 4 Stars
    152
  • 3 Stars
    133
  • 2 Stars
    73
  • 1 Stars
    46

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Story of Forgiveness

I really enjoyed this story. The roles each person plays in different and complex. They all had hardships in life and strived for a better life despite the adversity. Some became a better person in the end and others did not. I really enjoyed listening to the role of Ralph. He has many ways of forgiveness that we take for granted. He does display how we are all imperfect, we all make mistakes, we all thrive for love, and that happy ending. I thought is was beautifully written. Sad, yet lovely in its own way.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautifully written

An unusual story of love and redemption. This book gets under your skin and won't give you any peace until you finish it. The writing is lirical and the narrator does a wonderful job of painting the scenes with his voice.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Memorable Read

What did you love best about A Reliable Wife?

I love the symbolism throughout the story. This book is disturbing to read, which makes it very memorable and all of the symbolism reinforces the storyline. It really is an amazing story about the pursuit of happiness.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I Couldn't put it down.

I DEVOURED this book. The first book I've read in a long time that kept me guessing. It was such a raw and honest depection of human nature. Some parts were cringe worthy, others beautiful. Definitely worth the read. (posting on my husband's account)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

a good listen but a little slow

This is a good story from start to finish but if you are looking for a lot of action, it will be too slow for you. It's more a character study of three people - a father, a son and the woman they both love. It is well written and very well narrated but I did find it a little boring at times and questioned if I would finish it but overall it was worth listening to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Intriguing

I enjoyed the book - it is a very solid story. The writer brings interesting characters into a web of a plot. It made my evening walk lively.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

spine chilling

This is a story that will not let you go. It is compelling and fascinating. The author draws a vivid landscape as well as characters who are both well defined yet complex.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

LOVED THIS BOOK

This is an incredible book. Not only is the story incredible but
the reader is excellent. The best audio book I have ever listened
to. Book and reader perfect together.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but disturbing.

I can't say I didn't finish this book, but it went to some very dark places.it's a redemption layered over about a half dozen betrayals. It's also a view of rural Wisconsin in the 1880s that I suspect is probably quite true.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Didn't expect it to end the way it did.

Interesting story, Some of the characters personalities were impossible to believe. If I heard, "I want him dead, you promised" one more time, I would have screamed. If he wanted him dead so badly, why didn't he do the deed himself. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something was definitely missing. No one had a conscience, except for Ralph and that was way to little to late.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!