Although wealthy housewife Marti is only vaguely worried
because her husband works such long hours that he mainly
communicates through sticky notes, she's frantic when she
hears that her lover has brought back a new wife from his
business trip to Prague. A venture capitalist intent on
reviving downtown Cleveland, John Harding has come back to
the exclusive Hunting Hills gated community at the request
of his ex-wife, who needs help reining in her teenage
daughter. His new bride, Claire Stark, has worked the last
20 years establishing herself as a newspaper reporter, most
recently writing about international terrorism and refugees
in Eastern Europe. She accompanies John to Ohio and is
overwhelmed by the novelty of being a wife and by her own
lack of style in comparison to the fortunate wives around
her. When the women of Hunting Hill offer a mixed blessing
of welcome, Claire isn't sure if she should run away in
fear or submit to the Hunting Hills Triathlon (manicure,
yoga class and therapy appointments back-to-back).
Boots, John's ex-wife, is known for destroying
relationships, so she begins undermining Claire's self
esteem and adding strain to the marriage at their first
meeting. Her pointed questions lead Claire to admit that
she'd like to work for the big newspaper in Cleveland but
that her husband won't allow it because they previously
smeared his family's reputation. Claire also lets slip that
her ex-boyfriend is now the executive editor. Soon Claire
discovers that the smarmy man wants her back, as more than
just a staff writer.
Marti tries to check out her competition by taking Claire
shopping for Chanel suits and copper kitchenware, all the
while pumping Claire for information about John. Claire's
other choices for female companionship include Karen, a
quasi-activist whose long dark hair is artfully and
artificially streaked with gray, and Lisa, who's thin and
peppy due to her ADD medication, which is one of several
drugs she uses to keep her husband interested and faithful.
And of course John's outspoken mother, a tiny and
terrifying society matron, has arrived for an extended
visit from her home in Palm Springs, hoping to catch up on
news and manipulate her new daughter-in-law.
What are the secrets of these fortunate wives? Hunting
Hills has a history of salacious affairs and the residents
are not fond of outsiders. As the saying goes -- with
friends like these, who needs enemies? -- and the gossip of
Claire's arrival is soon surpassed by a series of scandals
that will change Hunting Hills forever.
With a major nod toward the popular television show
Desperate Housewives, author Sarah Strohmeyer
offers us a tale of delicious gossip, racy affairs,
completely selfish women who take themselves very seriously
and a hint of the absurdity that made Strohmeyer's five
Bubbles novels so fun. This examination of the wealthy
housewife is a humorous lark with serious undertones, and
fans of Strohmeyer's other work should enjoy the Midwest
setting and scintillating characters. Just think of me as
your personal shopper and have your bookstore deliver this
new novel to your door, then you should indulge yourself in
THE SECRET LIVES OF FORTUNATE WIVES.
News bulletin: Gone is HBO’s Sex and the City. Sex
has moved to the suburbs. Here is where you’ll find ABC’s
#1 TV show Desperate Housewives. Here too is THE
SECRET LIVES OF FORTUNATE WIVES, a hilarious but poignant
and spot-on novel about love and betrayal inside the world
of the gated community.
Pampered Hunting Hills, Ohio, socialite Marti Denton never
realized she was madly in love with John Harding until he
impulsively married Claire Stark, a beautiful but socially
awkward newspaper reporter to whom a "coming-out" party is
a controversy, not a tradition. It’s not until the Hunting
Hills wives are plunged into a series of explosive scandals
that the two women reach a new understanding of each other
and what it means to be a fortunate wife in the twenty-
first century.
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