The Mad Wife

On the outside, Lulu Mayfield is the picture of 1950s domestic perfection: a happy husband, a spotless home, and gelatin salads that are the envy of the neighborhood. On the inside, she is barely holding on, haunted by a private grief and the suffocating expectations of midcentury suburbia. After the birth of her second child, the careful life Lulu has built begins to crack, and when a relentlessly cheerful new neighbor named Bitsy moves in, Lulu becomes convinced that something sinister hides behind that perfect smile. The deeper she digs, the more others begin to question her sanity. Is Lulu losing her grip, or uncovering a truth too frightening to face? In the tradition of The Bell Jar and The Hours, North Carolina author Meagan Church blends domestic drama with creeping psychological suspense in an immersive, unsettling portrait of womanhood, motherhood, and madness. They called it hysteria. She called it survival. Available now at Spindle & Spine Bookstore.