The Judge's Wife
A Novel
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4.0 • 101 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
*Shortlisted for a 2017 RoNA Award*
With her whole life ahead of her, beautiful young Grace’s world changes forever when she’s married off to a much older judge. Soon, feeling lonely and neglected, Grace meets and falls in love with an Indian doctor, Vikram—he’s charming, thoughtful, and kind, everything her husband is not. But this is 1950s Ireland, and when she falls pregnant, the potential scandal must be dealt with. As soon as she has given birth, Grace is sent to an asylum by the judge, while Vikram, told that Grace died in childbirth, returns to India heartbroken.
Thirty years later, after the judge’s death, his estranged daughter Emma returns home to pack up his estate, where she finds Grace’s diaries and begins to piece together the life of the mother she never knew. Meanwhile, Vikram is planning a long-awaited return to Ireland with his much-loved niece Rosa—who has grown up hearing all about her uncle’s long-lost love—to stand, at last, at the grave of the woman he adores. When the judge’s will is finally read, revealing he has sent letters to Vikram and Emma, the deception spanning both decades and continents finally begins to unravel, exposing long-buried family secrets along the way and raising the question of if true love can last a lifetime.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this gripping contemporary, Emma Moran returns to Dublin to find the mother she never knew, not to mourn her recently deceased father, a cruel judge who had her mother committed. The narrative shifts among Emma, who discovers her father's secrets and the clothes worn by her mother, Grace; Vikram, who tells his niece Rosa about his affair with Grace; and Grace, who's locked up in a mental hospital in Wicklow. O'Loughlin (The Secrets of Roscarbury Hall) is brilliant at revealing bits of personality and clues through conversation. She drops hints and connects concepts by juxtaposing scenes and images, such as Emma wearing the Sybil Connolly dresses Vikram watched Grace buy. The Wicklow facility attendants have no names, faces, or identifying characteristics, illustrating its dehumanizing nature. Unfortunately, Vikram and other Indian characters are nearly as two-dimensional, not developed nearly as well as Emma, Grace, or even minor Irish characters such as Emma's father. The other sour note comes from the blithe account of Grace's affair with Vikram, which glosses over the racial tension in 1950s Ireland. Despite these flaws, fans of love-conquers-all stories will cherish this richly woven tale of passion and pride.
