The beloved actor and screenwriterβs second novel, set in 1903, stars a young concert violinist named Jeremy Webb, who one day goes from accomplished adagios with the Cleveland Orchestra to having a complete breakdown on stage. If he hadnβt poured a glass of water down the throat of a tuba, maybe he wouldnβt have been sent to a health resort in Badenweiler, Germany. But itβs in that serene place that Jeremy meets Clara Mulpas, whom he tries his hardest to seduce.
Clara is so beautiful that Jeremy finds it impossible to keep from trying to find a chink in her extraordinary reserve and elegance. He finds himself reflexively flirting to get a reactionβafter all, a tease and a wink have always worked before, with women back home. But flirting probably isnβt the best way to appeal to a woman who was married to a dumb brute and doesnβt want to have anything more to do with men. Jeremy isnβt sure how to press his caseβbut he wonβt give up.
Wilderβs prose is elegant, spare and affecting. But itβs his romanticβs eye for the intense emotions that animate a real love story that makes The Woman Who Wouldnβt an unforgettable book.
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