Book Review- The Spare Wife by Alex Witchel

The Spare Wife

By Alex Witchel

Summary: Ponce Morris is a beautiful, rich widow who’s known as “the spare wife” because she’s the perfect companion to the wealthy, powerful, New York couples in her elite social circle. She throws elegant dinner parties, goes to sports events with the husbands, and shops with the wives. She’s both flawlessly appropriate and coolly nonthreatening—everyone knows Ponce doesn’t have a romantic bone in her body. Over the years, she has managed other people’s lives—and her own—perfectly. Then Babette Steele, an ambitious, aspiring journalist, discovers that Ponce is having an affair with a socially prominent, very married man, and decides to break the scandal, turning Ponce’s carefully calibrated world upside down. Witchel’s sophisticated, witty, sexy satire provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives and loves of upper-class New Yorkers, sharply exposing the foibles of the fabulous. ~~Taken from the back cover

Alex Witchel's recent work, The Spare Wife, is a much more edgy book that those I am used to reading and reviewing. From the throes of New York's wealthiest digs comes a story of love, lust, and the price of true friendship. From the first page I knew that I would enjoy the style of writing that Witchel uses to expose the deepest fears and greatest weaknesses of these so called "elite" social waifs.

The cast of outrageous characters kept me laughing and enjoying every minute I spent with them. I really appreciated the mix of eclectic personalities that lit up the pages and created the wonderful conflicts throughout the story. Although this book had a bit more racy scenes than the books I usually recommend, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I am excited to see what Witchel comes up with next.

To Buy:

The Spare Wife can be purchased online at Amazon.com or locally wherever great books are sold.

Photo credit: Jeffrey Henson Scales

Alex Witchel is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and also writes "Feed Me," a monthly column for the Times Dining section. The author of the novels The Spare Wife and Me Times Three, she lives in New York City with her husband, Frank Rich.

Many thanks to Mothertalk for the opportunity to read and review this selection.