A Reliable Wife

A Reliable Wife
By Robert Goolrick
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2010. 305 pgs. Fiction

Ralph Truitt has spent the last twenty years in self inflicted solitude. He continues to grow his unfathomable fortune and employ almost his entire town in Northern Wisconsin; but, he does not interact with anyone beyond what is necessary, not since he lost his wife and children. But now, he wants a “reliable wife” and has ordered a bride from Chicago to share his life. Catherine Land is not the woman Ralph Truitt is expecting when she steps off the train. She is much more attractive than her letters led him to believe and Truitt is sure she is hiding a lifetime of secrets. Their unlikely marriage is filled with deception and tragedy but may lead to love and devotion if only they can learn to trust one another.

This book should not be read in January, February, or March. Its description of the long, dark, bitterly cold Wisconsin winter is likely to give readers diagnosable SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). If the synopsis didn’t give it away, this book could easily be classified a romance. This is a quick, though not light (or clean), read for someone wanting a lot of drama and only a little plausibility.

CZ