Tina (not receiving notifications!)'s Reviews > Recipe for a Perfect Wife

Another great book by Karma Brown! I have to say this one was a little bit more darker than I expected from her. I think she could have easily turned this into a psychological thriller but I like the direction she went with.

First off, I love the title and I love the cover! I'm always intrigued about the life of a 1950's housewife so I just had to read this. This has two timelines which I enjoyed equally. Present day and mid 1950's. In present day Alice and her husband Nate want to leave the hustle and bustle of Downtown Manhattan and decide to go to the suburbs (Greenville) and purchase a house. Alice is feeling a bit lost as she has left her job at a popular publishing house. When she is cleaning up the old house she finds a box full of old 1950's magazines in the basement. Also in the box is an old cookbook. Alice is on a quest to find out who it belonged to and trying to fill up all her extra time she begins to cook some of the old recipes for dinner and becomes entwined with the era. The old cookbook belonged to Nellie who used to live in the house with her husband Richard in the 1950's. Nellie was an excellent cook, fabulous dinner party hostess and a fantastic gardener. She seemed to be the epitome of a 1950's housewife.

While Alice keeps investigating Nellie's life could it be it was not so perfect after all? Alice herself has a few secrets up her sleeve. This book makes you really examine how a woman's role in marriage and society has somewhat changed but yet there are still many challenges that are similar. I enjoyed the old recipes that were also included in the story. I thought it was very clever to include at the beginning of each chapter tips for the perfect housewife (from antiquated books on marriage.)

I really enjoyed reading this book. My only disappointment might have been the ending. Overall a well written and researched novel. I think Book Clubs will love this one!

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for granting me access to this Advanced Reader Copy.