A Reliable Wife

March 12, 2009

RELIABLE WIFE paperbackNow in paperback!
A Heartland Indie Bestseller
and  a National Indie Bestseller

A RELIABLE WIFE
A Novel
by Robert Goolrick

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Workman Publishing
http://www.workman.com/algonquin/

ISBN: 9781565129771a_reliable_wife
$14.95 Trade Paperback
January 2010

ISBN13:  9781565125964
$24.95 Hardcover
March 2009
Fiction / A tale of dark suspense and psychological complexity set in rural Wisconsin in the early 1900s.

“A secret garden, and three figures in a frozen, barren landscape, like a pure blank canvas, waiting for the first drop of crimson to fall.”
- Author Robert Goolrick,
from his essay about the writing of A RELIABLE WIFE

“With A RELIABLE WIFE, Robert Goolrick has given us a rare treat, a story so good we are loathe to start another book for fear it will fail utterly in comparison……Here is a skillfully told tale of lies and betrayals, of rampant passion and unchecked desires, and occasionally of hope and compassion. Fierce and original, sensual but never crass, Goolrick spins a remarkable tale that takes the reader from the sophistications of Chicago to a bitterly cold and barren Wisconsin winter to the opium dens of St. Louis.”
- Laura Hansen, Bookin’ It, Little Falls, MN

Featured now in the 2009 MBA Catalog –
Books – A Reader’s Catalog
– at participating MBA member bookstores!

Buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller!  Click here for the directory of our member bookstores.

MBA Bookseller Information

For more information about this book, please contact your Fujii Associates / Workman sales rep.  Order from Workman or your preferred wholesaler.
If you would like to inquire about publicity and events for author Robert Goolrick, please contact Courtney Wilson, Publicity Assistant, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, courtneyw@algonquin.com, 919.967.0108 x 16.

MBA Booksellers: earn up to $75 in rebates for promoting this book!  See the marketing information and rebate form below.

Downloads

About the Book

“Layers of deceit run deep in Robert Goolrick’s A RELIABLE WIFE. Set in a land where long winters drive residents to unthinkable acts, a wealthy Wisconsin foundry owner gets more than he bargains for when he orders a mail-order bride. Determined to quickly change from new bride to wealthy widow, his wife is as surprised as the reader to discover the sexual intensity of this quiet man. Many secrets. Many lies. Very sensual. A good book for a long winter.”
- Beth Golay, Watermark Books & Café, Wichita, KS

“After breaking through with a disquieting memoir . . . Goolrick applies his storytelling talents to a debut novel, set in 1909, about icy duplicity and heated vengeance. . . . A sublime murder ballad that doesn’t turn out at all the way one might expect.”
-Kirkus, starred review

“I’ve read A RELIABLE WIFE and was blown away.  What a unique plot, so well written and fleshed out.  In short, I loved it.”
- Nancy Simpson, The Book Vault, Oskaloosa, IA

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for “a reliable wife.” But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she’s not the “simple, honest woman” that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man’s devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt – a passionate man with his own dark secrets -has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.

With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick’s intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

About the Author

goolrick_robert-smROBERT GOOLRICK lives in New York City.  His inspiration for A RELIABLE WIFE comes in part from the book Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy. Goolrick is also the author of the critically acclaimed memoir The End of the World as We Know It. Author’s website:  http://robertgoolrick.com/

Midwest Connections Marketing Plans

  • $75 in REBATES from MBA for display photos, ads, features in your newsletters, e-newsletters, and on your store website – print out the REBATE FORM above and follow instructions.
  • Contact the publisher to inquire about events and/or phoners with the author.
  • Banners and Midwest Connections page for the book on the MBA website.
  • Flyer/sign PDF file and other materials provided by the publisher.
  • Reading copies of A RELIABLE WIFE available from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill and MBA – contact the MBA office if you need a book.
  • Print ad you can run in your local paper – earn a rebate from MBA for your ad!
  • Midwest Connections stickers, shelf-talkers, signs, bookmarks for in-store displays – earn a display rebate, too.

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