"The Mad Wife" by Meagan Church, book review

Everything is not as it seems...

I just crossed off one book from my ever growing TBR pile. “The Mad Wife” by New York Times Bestselling Author Meagan Church. I originally picked this book up because of the cover. Working on my own historical fiction novel set in the 50s, the cover grabbed me immediately. The pastels, the outfit, the pearls. But that was just on the surface.

As I began reading Lulu’s tale of motherhood, domestic expectations, and the desire to be more than just a cleaning schedule on the fridge, her story transformed into a cautionary tale about the dangers of change in behavior.

During this time period, women received the medical diagnosis of Hysteria. Pills promised behavior returning to normal. If that didn’t work, treatments of electroshock therapy promised to dull senses back to normal. When those treatments didn’t work, the only way back to “normal” was a successful lobotomy.

Lulu represents all those women who experienced a loss of control to their own medical decisions. They were subject to the opinions of their male doctors, their husbands, their fathers, etc.

The story weaves around Lulu beginning to feel off shortly after her second child. When she loses her grip on reality, so does the reader. A mystery of her state of mind challenges readers to follow her journey and determine if she is really “mad” or if something deeper is going on.

I read this book cover to cover. I could not put it down. Though not specifically horror, the fear of losing bodily control and second-guessing yourself left me quite terrified for the women before me, and the women who come after me.

10/10.