The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

 

A year ago, they thought they had the perfect family.  The father was a respected surgeon, his wife active in the community.  The two girls were grown; Tully had a lovely family while Rachel had her own business.  Then the wife, Pam, began to be forgetful.  Although she was young for it to happen, soon she was diagnosed with dementia and soon had to go live in a memory hospital.  

Then the unexpected happened again.  Their parents had just been starting a renovation project for their house.  Heather is their designer and became friends with Pam before she had to be hospitalized although she is younger than Pam and Stephen's daughters.  After Pam is gone, Stephen and Heather fall in love although Heather is younger than Stephen's daughters.  Stephen divorces Pam and soon he and Heather are engaged.  

That's not all that's wrong.  Tully's world is shaken by her husband and by getting caught shoplifting, an activity she has indulged in for years.  Her son is having issues she doesn't know how to handle.  Rachel is finally starting to face a trauma that happened back in her teen years.  The entire family is upside down and now this engagement!

Sally Hepworth is an Australian author who writes mysteries dealing with family issues.  I listened to this novel and hearing the Australian accent by the narrator really placed the book in the proper environment.  The reader slowly uncovers the mysteries surrounding this family and the biggest mystery which concerns Pam and Stephen.  The idea for this book came from an incident that actually happened in Hepworth's own family.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.