I was looking forward to reading this latest novel from one of my favourite authors. I wasn’t disappointed. A Model Wife is a compelling and involving read.
The story centres around Celia, who readers first met in Isobel’s Promise – one of Maggie Christensen’s earlier novels – and Johnno. At its heart there’s the slow-burning romance between Celia and Johnno. But this is intertwined with other stories of family and friendship, and with difficult issues such as Celia’s abusive husband and Johnno’s precarious and high pressure business life.
The storytelling is excellent. I was hooked from the start and really cared about what happened to Celia and to Johnno. I so wanted them to overcome their difficulties and to be happy and together that it was difficult to put the book down.
This was a first-class story of mid-life challenges and of second-chance romance.
From the Back Cover:
Former top model Celia Ramsay is determined to extricate herself from her bullying husband – a former football hero. Despite his despicable behaviour towards their daughters, Celia agrees to join her husband on the media campaign for his memoir in return for an advance on the divorce settlement. But what she hasn’t bargained for is the spate of sexual harassment allegations against her husband and the media fallout which threatens to affect her entire family, not to mention her own sanity.
Real estate developer Johnno Henderson has always been a commitment-phobe, preferring to have a string of young models on his arm. But, as he nears fifty, he’s beginning to long for something more permanent. On the brink of the biggest deal of his career, a chance meeting with a former top model stirs up feelings Johnno never thought he was capable of, if only his playboy reputation would stop following him around.
Can this unlikely couple make a future together?
Set in Sydney at the height of the same sex marriage debate and the #MeToo campaign
A Model Wife is a women’s fiction book featuring compelling real-life characters, fascinating plot twists and a strong mid-life heroine. If you like feel-good stories of second chances, you’ll love this new book from Maggie Christensen.
A Model Wife is available as a paperback and as an ebook.