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The Good Wife    by Stewart O'Nan Amazon.com order for
Good Wife
by Stewart O'Nan
Order:  USA  Can
Picador, 2006 (2005)
Hardcover, Paperback, Audio, CD

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* *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

Patty Dickerson's life is on a pretty good track. She and her husband Tommy have been married for three years; they have their own place, Tommy's working and she's pregnant with their first child, a boy named Casey.

Life is good until Patty gets a phone call from Tommy that he's in a little trouble. In the course of a home invasion and robbery, an old lady died. Tommy and his friend were caught almost at the scene. The good life gone, Patty tries to accept the fact that Tommy is going to prison.

Stewart O'Nan's The Good Wife is the story of how Patty manages her life, and that of her son's, from that point on. Does Patty's decision about how to live her life make her a better woman, or was she already that, but had not yet been tested? The question that stays in my mind is, would I have done the same as Patty? Or is that a question that can only be answered by being faced with her dilemma?

This is an intriguing book by a skilled writer, an intriguing choice for book groups. The Good Wife is hard to put down once started and hard to dismiss once finished.

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