The Widow by Fiona Barton
ISBN: 9781101990261 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9781101990469 (ebook)
ASIN: B00Z8VT8AE (Kindle version)
Publication Date: February 16, 2016
Publisher: New American Library/NAL
For fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, an electrifying thriller that will take you into the dark spaces that exist between a husband and a wife.
When the police started asking questions, Jean Taylor turned into a different woman. One who enabled her and her husband to carry on, when more bad things began to happen…
But that woman’s husband died last week. And Jean doesn’t have to be her anymore.
There’s a lot Jean hasn’t said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment.
Now there’s no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were secrets. There always are in a marriage.
The truth—that’s all anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything…
How well can you really know someone? What secrets live within a marriage? These are two of the questions at the heart of Fiona Barton’s stunning debut novel, a haunting psychological thriller with one of the most fascinating unreliable narrators in recent fiction. Certain to cause a stir in literary circles on both sides of the Atlantic, THE WIDOW is drawing comparisons to recent thriller successes Before I Go To Sleep and Gone Girl. The sales teams at Penguin behind The Girl on the Train and The Silent Wife are comparing THE WIDOW to both.
The subject of heated auctions in more than twenty countries around the world—including Germany, France, Brazil, and Spain—that have been covered in both Publishers Weekly and The Bookseller, THE WIDOW will be published in January in the UK by Transworld (British publisher of The Girl on the Train).
A British journalist who has worked for the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph among other UK publications, Barton recently shared the inspiration for THE WIDOW: “As a journalist, I spent a lot of time in court. In the big cases—notorious and terrible crimes that led the news—I would find myself watching the wives of those standing in the dock and wondering what they really knew, or allowed themselves to know.” Kate Waters, the reporter in the novel, is a composite of several journalists Barton has known, including herself. “I have been where Kate’s been—on the doorstep, interviewing difficult subjects, minding interviewees at hotels.”
In THE WIDOW, Jean Taylor is the wife of a man who may be a monster. Though never convicted, Glen Taylor was the prime suspect in a horrible crime that captivated people across England and had camera crews camping out on the Taylors’ front lawn. Now, a week after Glen’s death, journalist Kate Waters shows up at Jean’s door, like so many others before, seeking answers—and the scoop of a lifetime. Though Jean kept quiet during the media circus surrounding the trial, she is finally ready to break her silence.
The desperate search for answers—both in the past and the present—takes shape through the interlocking narratives of the widow, the journalist, and the detective who never forgot the case. Each has a story to tell, but some might be more truthful than others. Their stories converge in a shocking ending that will leave readers everywhere eager to share and discuss THE WIDOW.
Read an excerpt here.
Advance Praise for Fiona Barton’s THE WIDOW:
Barton “tells her tale with a realism and restraint that add to its shattering impact.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review
“The most anticipated book of 2016. . . . Fast-paced, gripping and dark—this is one book that is destined to be HUGE next year.”—Glamour (UK)
“Shades of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.”—The Sacramento Bee
“The ultimate psychological thriller. Barton carefully unspools this dark, intimate tale of a terrible crime, a stifling marriage, and the lies spouses tell not just to each other, but to themselves in order to make it through. The ending totally blew me away!”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Fiona Barton’s THE WIDOW is a fast-paced, heart-stopping debut. Jean Taylor—the widow—is heroine and anti-heroine, naïve and savvy, dominated and dominating; in short, utterly compelling. Sure to thrill fans of The Girl on the Train and The Husband’s Secret, I raced through this in one nail-biting sitting.”—Catherine McKenzie, international bestselling author of Hidden
“A marriage is a public union, but can also act as a wall hiding an inner world of secrets. Fiona Barton’s THE WIDOW grabs hold of this insight and runs with it, twisting all the way to the end.”—Andrew Pyper, #1 international bestselling author of The Demonologist
“Stunning from start to finish. I devoured it in one sitting. The best book I’ve read this year. If you liked Gone Girl, you’ll love this. Fiona Barton is a major new talent.”—M. J. Arlidge, international bestselling author of Eeny Meeny
“Dark, compelling and utterly unputdownable. My book of the year so far.”—C.L. Taylor, international bestselling author of Before I Wake
Enter to win one print copy of The Widow by Fiona Barton. This giveaway sponsored by the publisher, NAL/Penguin and is open to US residents only (sorry). The giveaway ends on February 24, 2016, at 11:59 PM ET. The winner will be announced on February 25, 2016.
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