Country Businessman Seeks Reliable Wife

I love historical fiction, but the early 1900's in a remote Wisconsin town in the dead of winter didn't really sound like my cup of tea. But Robert Goolrick's novel A Reliable Wife is quickly becoming the book to read this spring. It has gotten a lot of buzz and good reviews, so I figured I ought to see what all the fuss is about. And...wow.

Set in northern Wisconsin in 1907, Ralph Truitt has been alone for 20 years. Plagued by despair and loneliness, Truitt decides that he does not want to be alone anymore. He places a personal ad for a wife and chooses Catherine Land from the responses. When Catherine steps off the train, Truitt knows immediately that she is not who she claims to be. I will not say any more so as to not give away too much of the plot, but it was a fantastic read. There is a beautiful paragraph towards the end that I think really sums up the feeling of the novel without giving anything away:

"It was a story of people who don't choose life over death until it's too late to know the difference, people whose goodness is forgotten, left behind like a child's toy in a dusty playroom, people who see many things and remember only a handful of them and learn from even fewer, people who hurt themselves, who wreck their own lives and then go on to wreck the lives of those around them, who cannot be helped or assuaged by love or kindness or luck or charm, who forget kindness, the feeling and practice of it, and how it can save even the worst, most mishappen life from despair. It was just a story about despair."

While I usually prefer happier fair, this was such an absorbing story. The characters are so flawed, but so real. And despite their flaws, they are incredibly interesting. The plot is unpredictable and the writing is quite good (see paragraph above). There is also some good fodder here for book groups, but there is quite a bit of sex, so keep that in mind. Goolrick says in the author's note that this book was influenced by a photo essay he read in 1973 called Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy. He says this book paints "a haunting, cinematic portrait of a small town in Wisconsin at the diseased end of the nineteenth century." You know I'll be checking that out. Stay tuned.