The Professors’ Wives’ Club by Joanne Rendell
First line: “Even though the sky was heavy with rain clouds and an eerie morning gloom hung over the city, Mary didn’t take off her dark glasses.”
Rendell, the wife of an NYU professor who lives in faculty housing, turns out a thoughtful debut about very different women connected by their ties to the fictional Manhatten U. The theme of the book could well be described as “fighting for what you really want” as the wives not only fight to keep the university garden from being demolished for a parking garage, but fight to come into their own in their relationships and careers. The two wives who get the most attention are Mary, a professor herself, who is married to the evil dean who not only wants to destroy the garden for monetary gain, but hits his wife. Then there’s Sophie, mother of three, including newborn twins, who never let a thing like breastfeeding keep her from digging up secrets about the dean and the mystery of the garden, and acting as the glue that holds these women, and the story, all Continue reading
