THE
WIFE'S TALE
Lori Lansens
"A persuasive,
dynamic storyteller" - THE TORONTO STAR
Every word in
'The Wife's Tale' is very carefully chosen making it a delight to read even though
it's very, very sad. For a short period in her life, Mary Gooch was thin. However
when she lost her child and hastily married, she became addicted to food. She
lives in a small dull rural home in Leaford and every set back in her life (like
the death of her cat "Mr Barkley" and the loss of her father) makes
her visit the Kenmore refrigerator more and more often. Mary is however a very
generous and kind woman who believes in miracles, so when her husband does not
come home for their wedding anniversary, she goes looking for him and the journey
becomes her transformation, physically, mentally and spiritually. Every woman
will relate to this story, as almost all of us eat when things go wrong to cheer
ourselves up. Even though Lori is thin and gorgeous to look at, she is able to
write expertly in the voice of a lonely and obese woman....
Lori
Lansens was a successful screenwriter before she burst onto the literary scene
in 2002 with her first novel 'Rush Home Road'. Translated into eight languages
and published in eleven countries, 'Rush Home Road' received rave reviews around
the world. Her follow-up novel, 'The Girls', was an international success as well.
Rights were sold in 13 territories and it was featured as a book-club pick by
Richard & Judy in the UK, selling 300,000 copies. Born and raised in Chatham,
Ontario, Lori Lansens now makes her home in Los Angeles with her husband and two
children. Check out lorilansens.com
Lori Lansens says,
"Shortly
after 'The Girls' was launched, my husband and I made the difficult decision to
leave Canada, the city we'd lived in for twenty-five years, our family in south
western Ontario, all of our friends, for Milan's career opportunities in the television
industry in L.A. Even before we'd made the decision to move I'd heard Mary Gooch
calling from the sidelines - a woman in her forties who undergoes a dramatic transformation.
We
rented a modest house in a suburb in the west San Fernando Valley where the people
were friendly, but strangers. I kept getting lost, and losing things. We arrived
in the summer with the temperatures in the triple digits and spent days at the
ocean, a short distance from our home. I drove the curving roads of the Santa
Monica Mountains thinking of the thousands of conversations I've had with women
about loneliness, self acceptance, marriage, husbands, body image, food, denial,
betrayal and more recently, encroaching middle-age. I thought about what it means
to be a stranger, and how one can be transformed by circumstance, and as I found
my own tribe of friends and settled into the new rhythm of a different life, the
story of Mary Gooch unfolded.
Milan and I live with our children
in a rural canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains with coyotes and bobcats and rattlesnakes.
From my office above the garage, I can see a horse ranch across the road and beyond
that, the tawny hills and clear blue sky. I'm currently at work on my next book"
'The
Wife's Tale' is available now (RRP $29.99).
