The Other Wife

A bold and bracing debut about race and class, intimacy and its discontents, and how small decisions can add up to leave a life nearly unrecognisable with time Susan "Zuzu" Braeburn is almost forty. She has the life she's always dreamed of - a beautiful house in Connecticut, a child, financial stability, a successful partner. But something between her and her wife Agnes has been off for a long time. Zuzu can't help but wonder if she's chosen wrong at every turn. With her parents' divorce, she chose to live with her white mother rather than her Black father. She let her stepfather pay for law school, even though she knew she had no aspiration to become a lawyer. Most importantly, she chose to marry Agnes despite her unrequited feelings for her best male friend, Cash. When her father dies unexpectedly, the "what-ifs" in her mind become so loud that Zuzu decides to betray every choice.THE OTHER WIFE is a novel of unfulfilled desire, of racially charged imposter syndrome, of regret, grief, and longing. Brazen, smart, candid and with no easy answers on sex, ageing, or friendship, this is an astonishing debut.