A Loving Wife Author:Violet Weingarten The qualities and sympathy and affection--and quiet acerbity--that made readers respond with joy to the appearance of Mrs. Beneker, are joined with a new depth of feeling in this moving portrayal of Molly Gilbert, the lving wife of Violet Weingarten's new novel. — Molly (the wife) disconcerted because her husband keeps telling her to do just wha... more »t she wants to do; Molly (the mother) emparrassed about putting her college son in the same bedroom with his girl; Molly (the social worker) coping coolly with boards of directors and warmly with her charges; Molly (the monogamous) alarmed at finding herself attracted to a man who is not her husband; Molly (the mistress) hesitating outside hotel rooms--and abandoning herself once inside them; Molly (the "liberated") filled with remorse and shame; Molly (the desperate) cutting loose from unbearable complications, flying alone to Rome to sort out her life.
Here, portrayed with a wonderfully civilized grace, is the nice woman nearing middle age, the wife who has felt herself happily married and who is suddenly seized with discontent. Her story is familiar--but the woman is so freshly seen that in A Loving Wife the pleasures of recognition are seasoned with the pleasures of surprise.« less