As the novel opens, Francesca’s banker husband is supposedly off to a conference in Brussels. But when she drops him off at the airport, he forgets his cell phone. Considerate wife that she is, Francesca parks the car, and hurries to catch him before his plane leaves. She catches him all right, just as he’s passionately kissing one of his female colleagues like there’s no tomorrow.But there is a … there is a tomorrow, and what happens in the days to follow is hilarious. Readers will cheer for Francesca all the way to her triumphant revenge. . . .
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Francesca’s Party, Patricia Scanlan, 2001
My favorite quote: “Her energies rubbed off on him. He never felt middle-aged with her. He glanced surreptitiously at the tell-tale grey hairs threading the brown tangle of chest hair that Nikki liked to run her fingers through. He wondered, was it possible to dye them?” (Idiot, lol)
Notable characters: Francesca’s Kirwin, the spurned wife; Mark, her cheating husband; Nikki Langan, Mark’s younger lover
Most memorable scene: For me, it was when Ralph showed up to the party. Or rather, HOW he showed up at the party
Greatest strengths: Well-drawn, believable characters
Standout achievements: This book managed to draw me into the mind of a dejected Irish housewife. I felt everything Francesca did, and that’s pretty remarkable. Ah, the power of books …
Fun Facts: This is another book I bought based solely on the cover. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you should totally judge books by their covers
Other media: N/A
What it taught me: Until I read this, I didn’t know that in Ireland, being “pissed” means being drunk. I was pretty confused there for a while
How it inspired me: Even when you’re writing about ghosts, vampires, and killer sea creatures (or whatever) nothing is stronger than human emotion. That’s what this book is all about and every time I read it, I’m reminded that when it comes to powerful writing, nothing should come before the emotional experience
Additional thoughts: I read this book once a year. It’s a nice break from the crazy, gory, wicked, spooky stuff I usually go for
Haunt me: alistaircross.com
The heroine catches her husband kissing a woman as he leaves for a “business trip”. Does she go home, soak in a tub, cry like a baby, eat ice cream and dream how to get him back? Hell no! She packs up his bags, flies to his rendezvous, talks the bell hop into letting her into the hotel and proceeds to lay out the husband and his outraged side piece then changes the lock when she gets home. Husband and side piece are outraged at the heroine’s behavior. Apparently cheating bastards and sneaky, conniving homewreckers don’t care to be called slut or called on the carpet.
Contrary to most “marriage in peril” stories, the heroine doesn’t try and win her husband back or in any way turn the other cheek. Her Irish Catholic mother prays to St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes, and switches to St. Rita when St. Jude doesn’t come through.
From this starting point, the h has a very s-l-o-w journey of change with a big helping of bitter along the way. The husband and the evil OW are two for the books. The husband wants to stay married and is outraged when the h tells him to forget it once she gets her head together, and the OW is outraged that the heroine blesses her out every time the OW wants to set the heroine straight.
There is a wannabe OM that blows it big, and it was refreshing to see SPOILER: that the heroine did not need another man to have her HEA. (hide spoiler)]
The husband and OW want to have their cake and eat it too as well as the heroine’s cake. They are out there with what they expect the heroine to do as in perform for their incredibly selfish wants and needs, but I found their actions and thoughts believable. They’ve dismissed the heroine as nothing and her needs as nonexistent.
Comeuppance? Oh yes.
SPOILER:
Not only does he lose the respect of one son and pretty much any contact with the other one, he’s now saddled with dealing with his cantankerous father than the h had to deal with. More importantly, the OW is served an appropriate retribution as she becomes the poor little victim when the husband tries to lure his wife and equally important house back to him, and the husband is left a weak, baby-crying mess once his wife has “just sex” with him and he has a new baby on the way with his pretty angry OW girlfriend or ex OW girlfriend as the case may be.
END spoiler)]
Great option for readers who are tired of the little women opening their arms to the sadder but wiser now that I’ve sowed my wild oats husbands.