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The Doctor's Wife - Book Review |
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Written by Jennifer Thompson
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 The Doctor's Wife, by Elizabeth Brundage
The Doctor's Wife could have easily been called The Painter's Wife,
for while Annie Knowles is certainly a key character, Lydia Haas steals
the book. It's Lydia's secrets and pains that grab us from the very
first scene and don't let go until the final moments of the book. But
all of the characters are fascinating and real - none is anything less
than human, and not one can be called the good guy or the bad guy.
They're all simply people, and that makes for reading that goes beyond the light poolside read.
I read The Doctor's Wife
in one day, and I was hooked from page one. We meet two of the four
main characters in the midst of violence, and then spend much of the
book reading about the events that led up to such an angry and sad
scene. Along the way we get to know Michael Knowles, an obstetrician
who is also doing work in a women's clinic that provides abortions;
Annie Knowles, journalist, married to Michael and teaching at a local
college; Simon Haas, one-time renowned painter now teaching art at the
same college as Annie; and Lydia Haas, Simon's wife and subject of the
paintings that propelled him to fame.
This is a
book about betrayals and redemption, about sexual abuse and sexual
healing, about paths not chosen and second chances. It doesn't wrap up
in a happily ever after ending, and I appreciated that. The book is
dark, and tragic, and no one is without blame or without pity. These
are four lost souls, trying to stay adrift and figure out what they
need to be happy. Ms. Brundage does a wonderful job of developing these
characters slowly, so that you think you might know a character and
what drives her (or him) only to find out that she or he isn't nearly
the person you thought they were. What shows on the surface is not
necessarily the same as what lurks just beneath those carefully
presented exteriors.
It is a character-driven book dealing with themes we all know of and
read about: adultery, abortion, abuse, terrorism, abandonment,
activism, love, passion and more, all artfully woven together in a
story that grabs hold of you and doesn't let go. After Michael agrees
to help out at the women's clinic, the Knowles start receiving threats,
but are these threats a warning for Michael, or Annie? A Christian
group has its eye on the clinic at which Michael works, and Lydia is
part of this group. But Simon has his
eye on Annie, and she's already beyond frustrated with her marriage.
Who's sending the threats? And what do they hope to achieve?
This is Elizabeth Brundage's first novel, and I will be watching for
future titles from this skilled and powerful author.
Copyright 2004
This review is available for reprint.
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