I dislike the title of this book I’m going to recommend because (I feel) it incorrectly characterizes the genre and story. Though there is certainly infidelity in this book; it is based on two well-known scandals related to the British Monarchy:
Another Woman’s Husband: A Novel
by Gill Paul
The book, in a dual timeline, ties together two women who “rocked the crown” in British history: Princess Diana (the modern day part of the story is based around her death) and the relationship between Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales that led to him abdicating the throne.
In 1997, Rachel and Alex have just gotten engaged when they witness the crash that takes the life of Princess Diana. Alex is a documentary filmmaker and starts pursuing theories after he picks up a mysterious bracelet at the scene of the crash and finds out Diana had visited the previous home of Wallis, the Duchess of Windsor, on the day she died (this visit is true to history).
In the late 1930s, the future king of England wants to marry a twice-married woman, Wallis Simpson, so if anything the book should be called, Another Man’s Wife…This part of the story is told from the point of view of Wallis’s lifelong best friend, Mary Kirk, who really did exist. This book portrays Wallis and the future king of England’s (and then the former King of England’s) relationship much differently than it is portrayed in The Crown, so that was interesting to me.
The plotlines tie up nicely and as a whole the book seems a notch above others I’ve recently read in the genre, which is historical fiction not domestic thriller/fiction as the title implies. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be looking to read some of Gill Paul’s previous books plus she has a new one coming out this summer about Jackie Kennedy.
Thank you to my friend Megan who initially gave me this book for my Little Free Library – but I had to intercept it!