Charlotte Mendelson’s last book, 2022’s The Exhibitionist, was hailed for its frank and honest study of dysfunctional relationships. It was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and named Novel of the Year by The Times. With such accolades it comes as no surprise that Mendelson should return to themes of abuse and betrayal in her new novel, Wife – albeit with an important twist. This time around, the dysfunctional relationship is that between two women.
Mendelson is an extraordinary writer whose prose dips in and out of cliché without ever falling into it. Her characters are whole and complex, her tone crisp and familiar, her prose uncluttered and full of delightfully bitchy moments (of an unattractive woman, she writes: “she looked as if gravity had oppressed her”). She has created the world’s worst wife in the character of Dr Penny Cartwright, an Australian academic. Penny might also be the world’s worst person, full stop: bi-phobic, coercive and at times just plain evil.
