Secret Lives of Second Wives
by Catherine Todd
Harper Torch $71
Labelled home-wreckers and gold-diggers, second wives seldom receive sympathy. Catherine Todd gives a second wife a chance to tell her side of the story, and the picture she paints is far from rosy. 'It's like walking onto the stage in the middle of the play, when all the other actors know their lines except you,' says the heroine, Lynn. When the book opens, Lynn and Jack have been married for a year. Jack's two grown-up children are hostile towards her. Then Jack's ex-wife shows up uninvited at a party looking for trouble. In desperation, Lynn joins the Anne Boleyn Society, a group of second wives who support each other. Todd tries to liven up her prose with funny one-liners, but they fail to lift the novel out of the gloom of Lynn's lot.