Sally Hepworth is always a winner for me, and The Younger Wife was no exception. I find that Hepworth writes very well-developed and interesting characters. Her novels are what many in the US call a “slow burn” but I prefer to think of them as character-driven suspense novels. Readers who are looking for action-packed plot-driven thrillers may not enjoy this as much as I did.

Read this if…

Readers who are fans of character-driven suspense novels will love this. Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, Sarah Pekkanen (in her standalone work), Jane Harper, and Celeste Ng.

The Characters

Stephen Aston (the husband) is a heart surgeon who is divorcing his current wife Pam Aston (the former wife) so he can marry someone else.

Pam Aston is suffering from early onset dementia that has advanced to the point she is no longer able to recognize her daughters or retain many memories.

Pam and Stephen had two daughters during their marriage, Tully and Rachel (the daughters). Tully is married with two children of her own, and Rachel is perennially single.

Heather (the new wife) is the beautiful, young (younger than his daughters) fiancée who is marrying Stephen once his divorce goes through.

Plot and Structure

Stephen and Pam built a beautiful life together, with a stunning home, two daughters, and everything they could want thanks to Stephen’s career as a successful heart surgeon. But even money can’t stop the onset of dementia in Pam, robbing her of her memory and much of her cognitive functioning.

When the book opens, Stephen and his new paramour Heather are having lunch with his daughters Tully and Rachel to share the news that Stephen has proposed to Heather. Of course, there is the small issue that he is technically still married to Pam, though she is in a fulltime care facility. When he shares his plans to divorce Pam, Tully and Rachel are understandably stunned. It’s their mother, after all, and Heather is even younger than them.

Tully and Rachel have their own problems, though. Tully’s husband has recently made a bad investment and they may need to file for bankruptcy. Meanwhile Tully has a bit of a bad habit of shoplifting she’s been hiding for years. Rachel is unable to date, preferring solitude to dealing with trauma she has around men. Both sisters need their parents more than ever, just as they are losing not only their mother, but maybe their father as well.

And Heather has secrets of her own. Will this family be able to make it through, or will these changes and their secrets be enough to break them?

Told in alternating chapters from the perspective of daughters Tully and Rachel and new wife Heather, The Younger Wife delivers on building characters and relationships as the plot moves towards the wedding. There is also an unknown fourth narrator who is a guest at the wedding of Stephen and Heather that adds suspense and context to the central mystery.

Overall Thoughts

Before reading this I expected this to be about a gold-digging younger woman trying to steal a man away from his family, but that isn’t remotely what this book is about. Heather is incredibly likable and aware that this situation is awkward for Stephen and his daughters. She is respectful that they still miss their mother, and that she is quite young to be their step-mom. But Heather is deeply in love with Stephen and not because of his money or status, but because of their relationship.

Pam’s dementia is very advanced, to the point that she doesn’t recognize her daughters when they visit her, though she seems aware some of the time that she has daughters. Stephen is also committed to continuing Pam’s care, but he is ready to move on and find love again. Everyone is looking to keep Pam in the family, though she is no longer herself.

One of the most compelling parts of this book for me was actually the daughters Tully and Rachel. Both are dealing with separate mental health struggles, heightened by the stress of their mother’s disease and things going on in their individual lives. I felt both had great growth arcs across the book that were engaging and satisfying.

If you are wondering about the “thriller” in this psychological thriller, it comes in a slow-building mystery that is heightened by the unnamed narrator. I wouldn’t say there are any jaw-dropping twists here, but there is an ongoing mystery to this that has a delicious twist in the very end of the book.

Part of the mystery has to do with something of Pam’s that was hidden in the house and the girls happen to discover. As they look into it more, they are frustrated that they can’t just ask Pam herself. Pam is physically present but unable to retain any memories that seem to help them solve the mystery. Was Pam harboring a secret their whole lives? Or did they misunderstand what they found?

A compelling character-driven suspense novel with well-developed relationship dynamics, growth in the character arcs, and a delightful twist ending that rounded out the story perfectly.

I seriously can’t go wrong with sally hepworth books. They are all so similar because they are GREAT! Sorry for the late review- I read her books so quick and forgot to review.

To be honest I was feeling a bit bored for the first half of this one, but once I hit that halfway mark something switched and I was hooked. THE YOUNGER WIFE was an enjoyable, though fairly typical, domestic thriller and it was a fun way to pass a lazy weekend.

This was a bit of a miss for me. I really enjoyed The Good Sister but this did not connect as much for me.

I liked the wedding bits- I thought that was interesting and also the struggles were interesting and realistic that Tully, Rachel and Heather faced.

I think this is meant to look like it is a murder mystery thriller but it is a domestic thriller- I definitely did not think it was overly dark or sinister.

I am glad to hear that the new ending cleaned up some things as well.

I don’t know that this will be a memorable one for me but I think folks who love a domestic thriller with interesting characters will be impressed. Looking forward to the next from this author.

This is an intriguing book with a premise that you think about often when you see older men leave their wives for younger women. I think it was suspenseful and kept me guessing throughout the book. The characters are well written and honestly it’s hard to root for anybody. If you want a twisty book, I highly recommend it.

Sally Hepworth wrote another exciting and quick read with The Younger Wife! I've read several of her books now and continue to get hooked and fly through the words she writes, needing to know the full story of what is going on. The Younger Wife dives into a lot of deeper themes and ideas, and it also leaves a lot of open "what-ifs" by the end, but I still very much enjoyed it and will continue to read her future works!

CW for loss of loved one, abuse, sexual assault, dementia, violence, cheating.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth!

This one fell really flat for me, and felt surprisingly predictable. Sally Hepworth's books are hit or miss for me, and this one, unfortunately, falls into the latter category.

I liked the majority of this book. I was invested in the characters and enjoyed reading the different POV from each of the 3 girls. However, the ending just didn’t do it for me. I am on board with the idea of casting doubt upon the reader and making us question what we know. Maybe it’s because this is such a heavy topic, but something about this ending just didn’t sit right with me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another great one by Sally Hepworth! I was hooked after the first couple of chapters. Love the way she makes her characters so real & relatable. Story line was easy to follow and I whipped through this book in just a couple days.
Thanks to NetGalley & Publisher for this ARC. #booksbyashleynicole

Thank you and Netglley and St. Martins Press for the Advanced Reader Copy.

I have read other Hepworth novels and I really like her writing style. I couldn't really understand why the two daughters played such a major role in the storyline when the main theme was centered around the stories of the wives. The novel didn't really start to make sense until the last one-third of the book. I did like how Hepworth tried to tackle the emotional toll cleptomania can take on a person and their relationships. Addiction is real and comes in all different forms.

I will read other books that she writes, but The Younger Wife is not my favorite.

I am torn on my thoughts on this domestic suspense as I really enjoyed some parts of the story and then other aspects just didn’t work for me (Tully’s storyline was definitely one I could have done without). I also really disliked the epilogue but I have since heard that the ending changed by the time the book was published.

Regardless, knowing this was how it was supposed to end really bothers me in terms of how this impacts the rest of the book.

Definitely a case of liked and didn’t love.

Enjoyed this novel. The separate story lines about the two daughters is just as interesting as the main story of the older main falling for the younger interior designer who has secrets of her own. This story had many twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat at until the very end. I’m a fan of this author and this book is a must read.

There was no suspense build up or big revelation with this novel. The ending / epilogue did nothing to wrap up the story. I did enjoy the audiobook cast of characters narration, but the story was unfulfilling.

This was a good read for me. I am a high school librarian, so I will not be purchasing this for my library since it does not fit the demographics of my patrons, However, I will recommend this to my adult friends.

I didn’t love this. I didn’t feel there was much suspense, and I wasn’t that invested in the story line.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martins Press and Sally Hepworth for this ARC. This has been my favorite book so far this year. I read it in less then 2 days and just loved everything about it..Rachel, Tully, Pam and Heather all had their own interesting stories, and none to long or confusing..I still don’t know if Stephen was what they all believed him to be or not…No spoilers here ! I am definitely suggesting this as one of our bookclub picks. I feel there will be some good discussions about this one .. 5 stars

sadly, I did not like this and should have dnf'd but I managed to push through. I read 60% of my netgalley arc but saw that the published edition has a different ending... so I switched to that version for the rest of the book [and read the ending of the arc version to compare. I actually prefer the arc ending lmao]

I wasn't a fan of the format where the prologue was in the present but the rest of the book is the year before leading to the present. I also didn't understand how Tulley's storyline correlated to the overall plot. I felt like if she was taken out completely, it wouldn't have affected the story. Ultimately, by the story I had no positive feelings, if anything I was mad that I finished it.

| trigger warnings - dementia, rape, anxiety, childhood trauma, domestic violence, miscarriage, death of a parent |

3.5 stars

This wasn't really a thriller. It's more of a family drama with a bit of a mystery. I did really enjoy the book, though. It does deal with some pretty heavy topics so check trigger warnings. I am a bit disappointed that it seemed to brig up these big issues and then gloss over them. I wish it went into more about healing from some of these heavy topics.

The ending felt a bit rushed and lackluster. I wanted more from the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC.

I have loved every book Sally has written and this one probably tops my list. It was well written and carried the story very well by keeping the reader well inclined and anticipating the more.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a wild ride. I could not put this book down. It definitely kept me guessing from start to finish. I loved all of the POV characters and found them all to be great narrators. I think that all of the big reveals were also done really well.

I enjoyed this book so much that I actually went back and borrowed all of the author's other published books from the library and I am now listening to them all on audiobook.

Sally Hepworth has now been added to my favorites list and I will read any book that she publishes.

4.5 stars rounded up.