A spare wife?

The Spare Wife by Alex Witchel is a book about Ponce, a very rich widow who has worked her way into this world where she is sort of a professional companion... which I was fairly sure was the definition of a concubine is it not? Ponce leads this weird life where she actually seems to manage other people's lives down to keeping other women's husband's company, going shopping with their wives, and even helping to manage their households.

It all seems a little odd to me but not at all surprising. I've spent a good amount of my childhood and adult life running in upper corporate circles and having very rich friends. Mind you I'd much rather spend my time in my pajamas hanging out with my son than a fancy dinner party any day but I totally understand the allure. Though I'm not sure I could farm out my husband to another woman for her to keep him company at a sports game. It just seems unnatural. Sure I hate sports, its not even a surprise as I couldn't tell you which team was winning at a baseball game if the ball hit me in the head. However,that sort of defeats the point of marriage. I'm more than happy to do something that may not be my thing for my partner, if it makes him happy.

Ponce has this whole perfect little micro manged world built for herself and everyone believes she is totally harmless and really just wants to help. Turns out Ponce has her own secrets and is having an affair with a married man. When a journalist threatens to break her story publicly the game is on and the question is who is going to win?

The Spare Wife is not really the sort of book I would have picked out for myself. I usually have this rule about books that involve "adult issues" I try to avoid them at all cost. It's not so much that I dislike them, I'm just looking for an escape when I read from my own adult issues so why add to the problem? Heh. The Spare Wife though is actually a really good read. Though it follows this super stuck up high class lifestyle it also shows painfully obviously that we are all human and money does not buy you perfection by any means.

The Spare Wife is available right now on Amazon. Thanks Mom Central for letting us know!