Mrs. March: A Novel
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3.1 • 134 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
“I read Virginia’s novel in one sitting and was so captured by it I knew I had to make it and play Mrs. March. As a character, she is fascinating, complex, and deeply human and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into her.” —Elisabeth Moss
Oprah Daily • Best Books of the Year
New York Times Book Review • Editors’ Choice
USA Today • Books Not to Miss
Who is Mrs. March?
George March’s latest novel is a smash. No one could be prouder than his dutiful wife, Mrs. March, who revels in his accolades. A careful creature of routine and decorum, she lives a precariously controlled existence on the Upper East Side until one morning, when the shopkeeper of her favorite patisserie suggests that her husband’s latest protagonist—a detestable character named Johanna—is based on Mrs. March herself. Clutching her ostrich leather pocketbook and mint-colored gloves, she flees the shop. What could have merited this humiliation?
That one casual remark robs Mrs. March of the belief that she knew everything about her husband—and herself—thus sending her on an increasingly paranoid journey that begins within the pages of a book. While snooping in George’s office, Mrs. March finds a newspaper clipping about a missing woman. Did George have anything to do with her disappearance? He’s been going on a lot of “hunting trips” up north with his editor lately, leaving Mrs. March all alone at night with her tormented thoughts, and the cockroaches that have suddenly started to appear, and strange breathing noises . . . As she begins to decode her husband’s secrets, her deafening anxiety and fierce determination threaten everyone in her wake—including her stoic housekeeper, Martha, and her unobtrusive son, Jonathan, whom she loves so profoundly, when she remembers to love him at all.
Combining a Hitchcockian sensibility with wickedly dark humor, Virginia Feito, a brilliantly talented and, at times, mischievous newcomer, offers a razor-sharp exploration of the fragility of identity. A mesmerizing novel of psychological suspense and casebook insecurity turned full-blown neurosis, Mrs. March will have you second-guessing your own seemingly familiar reflection in the mirror.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This unsettling debut explores a woman’s life just as it’s turned upside down. Mrs. March entirely defines herself through her marriage to successful author George March. Her life revolves around throwing parties, managing maids, and shopping at her favorite bakery every day—at least until the baker makes a passing comment about how much she resembles the protagonist in her husband’s latest book, and it’s not a flattering comparison. We were captivated as the prim and proper Mrs. March is thrown into paranoia and madness. Virginia Feito had us questioning everything—including how reliable Mrs. March is as a narrator. There’s a sense of dread seeping through the book as Feito introduces fascinating new characters, each with their own charming quirks and detailed backstories. Trust us, once you meet Mrs. March, you won’t be able to forget her.
Customer Reviews
Not a thriller
More like reading about someone’s mental breakdown. Interesting but ultimately dissatisfying as we cannot truly understand the reality she’s going through.
Interesting but incomplete
A cold, shallow woman, defined by the surrounding world loses her grip on reality. An interesting journey into an unstable mind but completely lacks context. There is no outside reality by which to judge her breakdown so the extant and degree are not available to the reader. Mrs March is a bit too stereotypical as a bad mother raised by a bad mother, a vacuous, meaningless slave to others opinions and thoughts, a victim of her own horrible childhood. I’m a bit tired of the victim complex we’ve developed as a society but if you’re feeling like a helpless victim with no power to change yourself or your circumstances this might be the book for you.