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The Mad Wife

A Novel

Meagan Church

$32.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English
Sourcebooks Landmark
06 January 2026
With odes of The Bell Jar comes a searing historical suspense following a 1950s housewife who, when a mysterious new wife moves across the way, begins to unearth dark secrets about her neighborhood and her own mind.

With odes of The Bell Jar comes a searing historical suspense following a 1950s housewife who, when a mysterious new wife moves across the way, begins to unearth dark secrets about her neighborhood and her own mind.

In the 1950s, nothing is valued more than conformity, and Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the ideal housewife. But after the birth of her daughter, Lulu's carefully constructed life begins to teeter.

Exhausted by expectations and haunted by tragic memories, Lulu looks to her new neighbor, Bitsy. Bitsy, always the model of a perfect housewife, is not quite what she seems and Lulu knows something dark lurks beneath Bitsy's constant smile. Increasingly fixated on Bitsy and her perfectly crafted life, Lulu's mental state begins to fracture, and memories she had suppressed long ago begin to rise to the surface. Soon, Lulu is forced to confront the possibility that she might be headed down a path much darker than she could ever foresee.

Set against the backdrop of a post-war era defined by tradition and constrained femininity, The Mad Wife weaves together a coming-of-age search for identity with a psychological drama so poignant, you won't be able to put it down.
By:  
Imprint:   Sourcebooks Landmark
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 210mm,  Width: 140mm,  Spine: 22mm
ISBN:   9781464236747
ISBN 10:   1464236747
Pages:   352
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

After receiving a degree in English with a focus on creative writing from Indiana University, MEAGAN CHURCH built a career as a storyteller and freelance writer for brands, blogs and organizations. Her fiction focuses on overlooked and oppressed women's voices from the past. A Midwesterner by birth, she now lives in North Carolina with her high school sweetheart, three children and a plethora of pets.

Reviews for The Mad Wife: A Novel

""I devoured The Mad Wife, bite by savory bite. Church's novel expertly captures the paradox of being a 'perfect' housewife in the 1950s, all while drawing a subtle parallel to the plight of the 'ideal' woman today. The suspenseful unraveling of women's secrets--not to mention, their minds--kept me turning pages late into the night"" -- Kristen Bird, USA Today bestselling author of Watch It Burn ""In a quietly devastating wink-and-nod to The Bell Jar, set firmly in thriller and suspense territory, Meagan Church delivers a piercing portrait of a young mother unraveling in the grip of 1950s suburbia, where Jell-O molds collapse, dishwashers invade, and card games with neighbors turn into emotional battlefields. With razor-sharp insight and aching lyricism, The Mad Wife traces a woman's descent through sleepless nights, domestic disillusionment, and buried guilt, capturing a haunting tension between what is said, seen, and silently endured until she no longer can."" -- Lee Kravetz, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P.


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