"The five marriages that Carmela Ciuraru explores inLives of the Wivesprovide such delightfully gossipy pleasure that we have to remind ourselves that these were real peoplewhose often stormy relationships must surely have been less fun to experience than they are for us to read about."Francine Prose, author ofThe VixenA witty, provocative look inside the tumultuous marriages of five writers, illuminating the creative process as well as the role of money, power, and fame in these complex andfascinating relationships."With an ego the size of a small nation, the literary lion is powerful on the page, but a helpless kitten in daily lifedependent on his wife to fold an umbrella, answer the phone, or lick a stamp."The history of wives is largely one of silence, resilience, and forbearance. Toss in celebrity, male privilege, ruthless ambition, narcissism, misogyny, infidelity, alcoholism, and a mood disorder or two, and it's easy to understand why the marriages of so many famous writers have been stormy, short-lived, and mutually destructive. "It's been my experience," as the criticand novelist Elizabeth Hardwick once wrote, "that nobody holds a man's brutality to his wife against him."Literary wives are a unique breed, requiring a particular kind of fortitude.AuthorCarmela Ciurarushares the stories of five literary marriages, exposingthe misery behind closed doors. The legendary British theatre critic Kenneth Tynan encouraged his American wife, Elaine Dundy, to write, then watched in a jealous rage as she became a bestselling author and critical success. In the early years of their marriage, Roald Dahl enjoyed basking in the glow of his glamorous movie star wife, Patricia Neal, until hedetested her for being the breadwinner, and being more famous than he was. Elizabeth Jane Howard had to divorce Kingsley Amis to escape his suffocating needs and devote herselfto her own writing. ("I really couldn't write very much when I was married to him," she once recalled, "because I had a very large household to keep up and Kingsley wasn't one to boil an egg, if you know what I mean.") Surprisingly, themost traditional partnership inLivesof the Wivesisalesbian couple, Una Troubridge and Radclyffe Hall, both of whom were socially and politically conservative and unapologetic snobs.As this erudite and entertaining work shows, each marriage is a unique story, filled with struggles and triumphs and the negotiation of power. The Italian novelists Elsa Morante and Alberto Moravia were never sexually compatible, and it was Morante who often behaved abusively toward her cool, detached husband, even as he unwaveringly admired his wife's talents and championed her work. Theirs was an unhappy union, yetit fueledthem creatively and enabled both to become two of Italy's most important postwar writers.These are stories of vulnerability, loneliness, infidelity, envy, sorrow, abandonment, heartbreak, and forgiveness.Above all,Lives of the Wiveshonors thewomen who have played the role ofmuses, agents, editors, proofreaders, housekeepers, gatekeepers, amaneunses, confidantes, and cheerleaders to literary trailblazers throughout history. In revisitingthe lives of famous writers, it is time in our #MeToo era to highlight the achievements oftheir wivesand the price these womenpaid for recognition and freedom.Lives of the Wivesisan insightful, humorous, and poignantexploration of the intersection of life and artand creativity and love.
