Tully and Rachel are murderous when they discover their father has a new girlfriend. The fact that Heather is half his age isn't even the most shocking part. Stephen is still married to their mother, who is in a care facility with end-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Heather knows she has an uphill battle to win Tully and Rachel over, while carrying the burden of the secrets of her past. But, as it turns out, they are all hiding something.

The announcement of Stephen and Heather's engagement threatens to set off a family implosion, with old wounds and dark secrets finally being forced to the surface.

A garage full of stolen goods. An old hot-water bottle, stuffed with cash. A blood-soaked wedding. And that's only the beginning....

Listening Length

9 hours and 14 minutes
Author

Sally Hepworth
Narrator

Jessica Clarke
Audible release date

26 October 2021
Language

English
Publisher

Macmillan Australia Audio
ASIN

B09HR62Z5P
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	9 hours and 14 minutes
Author	Sally Hepworth
Narrator	Jessica Clarke
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	26 October 2021
Publisher	Macmillan Australia Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B09HR62Z5P
Best Sellers Rank	1,595 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 43 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 118 in Suspense 262 in Family Life Fiction (Books)

Customer reviews

5 star		48%
4 star		38%
3 star		11%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from Australia

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Entertaining

Reviewed in Australia on 3 November 2021

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Still not sure how much suspension of disbelief is necessary here. Is it possible that a successful doctor can be a serial abuser yet so successful a gaslighter that the women involved (daughters and wives) are unaware of it? Whatever. The plot romps on at a mile a minute as these quirky and dysfunctional characters slide over the waterfall of death only to find themselves saner and wiser in the refreshing plunge pool of life. There’s kleptomania, eating and baking your way past teenage rape, pension fraud, toddlers refusing to eat with hands, a barrister mis-investing $2m with dire results, psychologists, a murderous dad in prison, Alzheimer’s etc. What’s not to like? I highlighted a couple of wise remarks about the role of fathers in a child’s life.

Helpful

Linda Raiti @lilyraiti

Fast paced, gripping family drama!

Reviewed in Australia on 12 May 2022

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This little beauty was our book club pick this month.
Comments about The Younger Wife from some of the team …

* I loved it!
* Can’t wait to read more books by Sally Hepworth.
* First book I have actually finished BEFORE our monthly catch up!
* It was an enjoyable read and the characters well developed. Each having their own secrets. I liked that the new stepmother didn’t have the typical stereotype. The ending left me dangling though.
* I really enjoyed all the characters and the different relationships.
*
And then this last comment …

* So you want us to do your review for you? 🤣
There’s always one!! 😂😂😂

My review:

In true Hepworth style, she’s knocked it out of the park again with The Younger Wife. It’s more of a slow burn domestic thriller that begs you to keep turning the pages to unravel an intriguing and fascinating plot!

We follow a stunning, complex and flawed cast of characters, highlighting this dysfunctional family with so many secrets! This domestic family drama centres around the patriarch who is getting married to a much younger woman and who’s ex wife is in the throws of late stage dementia and very much in the picture.

The POV’s beautifully meander around his two daughters Tully and Rachel and his soon to be new wife Heather. Cleverly plotted we follow their own personal demons and dramas as well as family dynamics, uncovering secrets as the plot thickens.

It’s fast paced and engaging and hits some hard core issues - gaslighting, infidelity, kleptomania, alcoholism, domestic violence.

A fabulous read and another I can highly recommend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you @sallyhepworth

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Phillipa Nina

Great holiday read

Reviewed in Australia on 27 November 2021

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Sally Hepworth writes brilliant family drama and The Younger Wife is no exception. Her characters are beautifully developed and I was left wanting to know more. Where are they now and how are they going? While dealing with difficult subject matter, there was love and humour and warmth. Thoroughly recommend x

One person found this helpful

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Liz

Very readable

Reviewed in Australia on 26 November 2021

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I enjoyed this book on the whole and will check out her other books.

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Amazon Customer

Easy, engaging read

Reviewed in Australia on 17 February 2022

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Love this author. Easy read with interesting characters. Highly engaging. Definitely recommend

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Zoe Gomez

Takes a bit to get into

Reviewed in Australia on 4 June 2022

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You know a book is good when you stay up to 1:30 am to finish as you must know how it ends

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Sarah Stevens

addictive page turner

Reviewed in Australia on 14 January 2022

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By the time I got a quarter of the way through I couldn’t put it down. A real page turner.

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A breezy writing style, a good number of twists and interesting characters

Reviewed in Australia on 27 October 2021

Gossips, busybodies and scandalmongers ... gather ’round! Have you heard what’s going on with the Astons? Not only is patriarch Stephen Aston engaged to marry a woman who is younger than his daughters, but the rest of the family seem to be falling apart at the seams as well!

It is in this somewhat light-hearted vein that I took a drink and my copy of THE YOUNGER WIFE and sat outside in the wonderful sunshine (at least in my neighbourhood) to read from cover to cover this highly entertaining story.

It was a pleasure to read this book. Reading about each character’s idiosyncrasies and their reactions as personal and family secrets are revealed kept me engaged from start to finish. The chapters, told from various characters’ points of view, allowed us to gain insight into things that happen and also see how they might look differently to others.

This book does tackle serious issues including domestic violence, sexual assault, food addiction and, dementia just to name a few. If I had picked this book up on a day I was in a more serious frame of mind, I might have struggled with the way in which some of these issues were handled. Having said that, I think the book well encapsulates the helplessness and loss of control by characters; I was easily able to empathise with them.

Hepworth’s breezy writing style, a good number of twists and interesting characters makes THE YOUNGER WIFE a diverting read.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer

Absolutely brilliant book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2022

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Sally Hepworth is an excellent writer, and has skilfully woven an absorbing tale here. The main characters are Stephen, a well respected doctor. Pamela, his very recent ex wife who has advanced dementia. Their adult daughters, Rachel and Tully. And Heather, the new wife to be, who is as young as the daughters. Every character is well written, but my favourite is Rachel, who uses cooking and eating to hide her past trauma. The story starts on Stephen and Heather’s wedding day, then flashes back over the past from various points of view. I loved reading it, it kept me guessing right till the end.

One person found this helpful

vanillalatte

We all have our problems but what happens when they go too far?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 April 2022

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Brilliant book and character study. Read it in a day and couldn’t put it down. It’s not made up from perfect people, but shows how they can be redeemed... unless they go too far....

Terri Kemper

Great read

Reviewed in Canada on 3 May 2022

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I had a hard time putting this one down. Full of suspense and interesting characters. I just loved it. The issues that the author deals with in this book are fascinating. I would recommend this book to any of my female friends.

NZLisaM

3 Deflated Stars!

Reviewed in the United States on 22 January 2022

Verified Purchase

We open to the wedding ceremony of Stephen, and his (twenty-nine years his junior) bride, Heather.

Our narrator is an unknown, uninvited guest, who is unhappy about the marriage.

Also unhappy, are Stephen’s adult daughters, Tully and Rachel, both older than the bride, their smiles painted on.

On the other hand, Tully and Rachel’s mother, Stephen’s ex-wife, is smiling and waving as if arriving at a red carpet event.

After the ceremony, the celebrant leads the bridal party to the sacristy to sign the registry.

Minutes later a scream is heard, followed by an ominous thud.

The celebrant reappears, her face ashen, her white pantsuit covered in blood.

We then rewind to one year earlier…

My oh my! It pains me to have to write this review, as up until the 90% mark I would have had no hesitation in rating The Younger Wife 5 stars. Just yesterday, I was singing its praises to my mum, promising to message her the title. But now, having finished, I think I’ll send her the link to The Mother In-Law instead, as Mum’s read my absolute favourite by Sally Hepworth, The Good Sister, which she also loved.

So, back to The Younger Wife. For the most part, the plot was dramatic, disturbing, engaging, and a unique slant on a theme prevalent in domestic thrillers and family dramas. The majority of the suspense and tension came from the character’s being oblivious, ignoring, or not wanting to accept, the warning signs, and their slow realisation that something was very wrong in their family.

The three main POV’s – Tully, Rachel, and Heather – were complex characters with realistic and relatable lives. Putting on a front for the world, hiding the less desirable parts of one’s self, and using addiction as coping mechanisms, and the shame associated with that, were prominent themes, and they were handled sensitively and honestly and furthered the suspense storyline in subtle and thrilling ways. The ‘wedding day’ flash forwards via an unidentified narrator heightened my excitement of what was to come.

Unfortunately, ‘what was to come’ completely changed my opinion of the book, and surprisingly my main issue wasn’t with the ‘open to interpretation’ ending {although I wouldn’t say I loved it), but rather the lack of closure and consequences regarding the serious event that occurred at the ceremony. It just didn’t not sit right with me what followed, too many things were glossed over and rushed, and the decisions made felt out-of character and selfish for characters that I had, up until that point, loved and respected.

I encourage you to check out other reviews, as a lot of my friends rated The Younger Wife 5 stars. For me, it was my least favourite, but keep writing Sally Hepworth, as I remain ever faithful

38 people found this helpful

Well Read Nana 1/24

It was going so well and good until the end and than it became absurd for me

Reviewed in the United States on 10 April 2022

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This book was going so well, like 5 star read so well. It was entertaining me thoroughly until the last 15 percent of the read sadly. Without giving away too much, there is a situation to prove ones despicable behavior and the author chose to dumb down one of her characters so much that it ruined the rest of the read for me. ****spoiler alert coming up **** The book went from a 5 star to a 3 star read by how the author wrote the insight of one of the therapists that was so insulting to me as a woman to read about. Abuse is abuse is abuse, and if someone is physically abusing you to the point of nearly taking your life how in the world can the author write it off as a character saying " well there are no bruises so did that really happen ? did I imagine it ? Just insulting to me the reader for sure. I felt it was a absurd turn of events to take that " confused view " at the end. The shame of it is that I was so enjoying this read , I was loving it actually. I understand that the author was trying to show that once you are abused or if you come from a abusive home you can find yourself in the same situation you vowed never to find yourself in but this situation that was very real and nearly deadly was denied and that went just too far for me . So 3 stars only for me just because of the pathetic ending that the author decided to go with. If it would have stayed more strong survivor than absurd it would have been a easy 4 to 5 star read .

7 people found this helpful

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