‘Extraordinary. A story about belonging in liminal spaces, and longing for things seemingly just out of reach. A searing, beautiful book.’ —Kiley Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Come and Get It
"Complex and enduring...We would follow Zuzu anywhere." —Oprah Daily
A big-hearted novel of nostalgia and longing, and a poignant exploration of how we choose to love.
Zuzu met her best friend Cash on the first day of college, and nothing was ever the same. Tall, witty, and popular, his friendship represented a kind of belonging for Zuzu, who had always felt like an outsider growing up biracial in her rural hometown. Though their friendship was charged with longing, it never progressed to romance. Now approaching her forties, Zuzu has built a stable life with her wife Agnes, a steadfast and career-driven lawyer. Yet Zuzu is haunted by the choices that have shaped her: living with her mother instead of her father in childhood, pursuing law over art, and marrying Agnes while harboring complex feelings for Cash.
When a sudden loss pulls Zuzu back to her hometown, the ‘what ifs’ in her mind become louder than ever, and she begins to unwind the turns that have led her here. Will she embrace the choices she’s made, or risk everything for a chance to chase the past? A novel that speaks to unfulfilled desires and the euphoric nostalgia that’s particular to the beginning of middle age, The Other Wife is as heartfelt as it is daring in its deep reckoning with the past and quest for true joy.
Genre: Literary Fiction
"Complex and enduring...We would follow Zuzu anywhere." —Oprah Daily
A big-hearted novel of nostalgia and longing, and a poignant exploration of how we choose to love.
Zuzu met her best friend Cash on the first day of college, and nothing was ever the same. Tall, witty, and popular, his friendship represented a kind of belonging for Zuzu, who had always felt like an outsider growing up biracial in her rural hometown. Though their friendship was charged with longing, it never progressed to romance. Now approaching her forties, Zuzu has built a stable life with her wife Agnes, a steadfast and career-driven lawyer. Yet Zuzu is haunted by the choices that have shaped her: living with her mother instead of her father in childhood, pursuing law over art, and marrying Agnes while harboring complex feelings for Cash.
When a sudden loss pulls Zuzu back to her hometown, the ‘what ifs’ in her mind become louder than ever, and she begins to unwind the turns that have led her here. Will she embrace the choices she’s made, or risk everything for a chance to chase the past? A novel that speaks to unfulfilled desires and the euphoric nostalgia that’s particular to the beginning of middle age, The Other Wife is as heartfelt as it is daring in its deep reckoning with the past and quest for true joy.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Humor! Verve! Soul! This novel has it all...The Other Wife sounds and feels both classic and like nothing I've encountered before." - Emma Copley Eisenberg
"Captures the dizzy angst of young romance so well that it felt like Jackie Thomas-Kennedy had a surveillance camera in my college dorm room...Following Zuzu over decades as she navigates growing up is a heart-rending, funny and relatable journey. I could not put the book down." - Jessica Grose
"Tender, wise, and thoroughly compelling, The Other Wife teems with the complicated pleasures and desolations of longing. Jackie Thomas-Kennedy knows a great deal about the life-shaping strength of desire." - R O Kwon
"A probing, gorgeous novel about the intricacies of desire: for other loves, other lives, other versions of the self...a remarkable debut." - Kirstin Valdez Quade
"Extraordinary. A story about belonging in liminal spaces, and longing for things seemingly just out of reach. A searing, beautiful book." - Kiley Reid
"Captures the dizzy angst of young romance so well that it felt like Jackie Thomas-Kennedy had a surveillance camera in my college dorm room...Following Zuzu over decades as she navigates growing up is a heart-rending, funny and relatable journey. I could not put the book down." - Jessica Grose
"Tender, wise, and thoroughly compelling, The Other Wife teems with the complicated pleasures and desolations of longing. Jackie Thomas-Kennedy knows a great deal about the life-shaping strength of desire." - R O Kwon
"A probing, gorgeous novel about the intricacies of desire: for other loves, other lives, other versions of the self...a remarkable debut." - Kirstin Valdez Quade
"Extraordinary. A story about belonging in liminal spaces, and longing for things seemingly just out of reach. A searing, beautiful book." - Kiley Reid
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