The Mad Wife by Megan Church

 

Lulu Mayfield counts herself lucky.  She has her son, a husband she loves and who works to support them and friends in her neighborhood.  She is known as The Queen Of The Mold for her jello salads.  She has tons of friends as none of the wives work, here in the 1950's.  They stay home, clean, cook and raise the children while supporting their working husbands emotionally.  Then Megan becomes pregnant again and soon her family will be complete.

But something isn't right.  A new couple has moved into the neighborhood and the wife doesn't seem to be the same as the rest.  Her speech is strangely disconnected at times and she seems to be keeping secrets.  Lulu is slipping as well.  Her pregnancy is a difficult one and the housekeeping starts to slip a bit.  When the husband of the new couple goes after the same job as Lulu's husband, the strain starts to mount.  

After the birth of her baby, Lulu doesn't recover quickly.  She has a terrible case of insomnia and rarely sleeps.  She forgets things, including getting dressed or cooking for the family.  She and her husband become estranged as Lulu starts to accuse him of various things.  What has gone wrong?

Megan Church is an American author who writes in the woman's fiction genre.  Her stories focus on the emotional lives of women faced with extraordinary events in their lives.  Lulu is the perfect 1950's wife until she isn't and the reader is taken along on her journey as she strays from the perfect housewife to a woman unsure of everything she knows.  This was my mother's generation and much of what I read in Lulu's story I could recognize as things my mother was living as I grew up.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.