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In Need of a Good Wife

by Kelly O'Connor McNees (Goodreads Author)

3.64 of 5 stars 3.64 · rating details · 313 ratings · 93 reviews

Richly detailed, vivid, and unforgettable, this is an extraordinary novel about three women challenging the American West—and unpredictable fate—for a future only the most daring can secure…

For Clara Bixby, brokering mail-order brides is a golden business opportunity—and a desperately needed chance to start again. If she can help New York women find husbands in a far-off...more

Paperback, 387 pages

Published October 2nd 2012 by Berkley Trade

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In Need of a Good Wife
by Kelly O'Connor McNees (Goodreads Author)

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Oct 24, 2012 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, goodreads-giveaway

I just won this book! Thank you Goodreads!

Clara Bixby is looking for a way out of post-civil war Manhattan City and comes up with a plan to broker mail-order brides to the men of Destination, Nebraska. Each woman (to-be bride) has her own reason for leaving New York. They each correspond with their soon-to-be husband and expectations are high as are the risks.

This was a fun book to read..an adventure to the wild wild west. I thought the writing was very vivid, imaginative, and at times humorou...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Karen & Gerard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, favorites, historical-fiction, relationships

In Need of a Good Wife by Kelly O'Connor McNees is a post-civil war historical fiction novel about mail-order brides seeking a new start. When Clara sees an ad for wives needed in Nebraska, she sees it as a business opportunity and becomes matchmaker for women in Manhattan who want a new start and are willing to go to Nebraska. She contacts the mayor of the Nebraska town, Destination, and when the gentlemen seeking wives write, she tells the women about them and they correspond for months before...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Romancing the Book rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, romance, western

Reviewed by: Angie
Book provided by: Publisher
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book

In Need of a Good Wife follows three characters; Clara, who has suffered the loss of a child and her husband who ran away with a laundress. Rowena, whose father went mad and husband went off to war and died, leaving her virtually penniless and alone. And Elsa, a plump laundress whose faith sustains her through everything.

Clara is a strong woman used to dealing with the hardships of life. I can’t say I over...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Miriam Downey rated it 3 of 5 stars

You can find my full review here: http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.c...

The years following the Civil War continue to provide fodder for books of every sort—from novels to histories—and about every conceivable type of situation. Among the most poignant are the stories of women left husbandless after the war, either because of the death of a husband or because of the dearth of men left in the community. Other stories tell of homesteaders and ranchers without wives in a “lawless” West. Historic...more You can find my full review here: http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.c...

The years following the Civil War continue to provide fodder for books of every sort—from novels to histories—and about every conceivable type of situation. Among the most poignant are the stories of women left husbandless after the war, either because of the death of a husband or because of the dearth of men left in the community. Other stories tell of homesteaders and ranchers without wives in a “lawless” West. Historical novelist Kelly O’Connor McNees expands the literature with a study of women seeking husbands on the plains of Nebraska in the years immediately following the Civil War. In Need of a Good Wife begins in 1866 with a newspaper article about the community of Destination, Nebraska and their total lack of wives for the homesteading men.

Meanwhile, In Manhattan, Clara Bixby is at a dead end. She has lost her job as a barmaid in the tavern that used to belong to her father. She has been abandoned by her husband and needs a fresh start. She decides that she will broker wives for the men of Destination, and she sets about to do just that. As she searches for women willing to move from Manhattan to Nebraska, she discovers that there are many women who are also looking for a fresh start. She matches the potential wives with the men of Destination, and the women correspond all winter with their intended husbands. In the spring, Clara takes the first group of women on the long train journey from Manhattan to Destination. Of course, the path to marriage is not smooth; some women defect, one of the young women dies on the train, and things in Destination are not quite as they were advertised.

Wisely, McNees chooses to focus on only three of the women—Clara, the marriage broker, an older laundress named Elsa, and a duplicitous young widow named Rowena. Clara’s scoundrel of a husband arrives on the scene shortly after the women arrive in Destination, but like many men of his type, he cannot sustain the relationship or the responsibility of marriage, and he takes off once again but not before causing many problems for Clara. Elsa had responded to a letter from a curmudgeonly man needing a housekeeper rather than a wife and finds that she is quite content with her new life. Rowena, on the other hand, finds herself in a bad situation—the man she marries is the town’s butcher who has neglected to tell her in his letters that he has five children and they live in a “soddy”, a sod hut.

By the way, this book cannot be classified as a romance novel for there is very little romance in the hardscrabble lives portrayed. The men are generally kind, though rough hewn, and the women are realistic in their appraisal of their new lives on the plains, including dirt, drought, and worst of all, plagues of grasshoppers. These are strong women—survivors, as it were—and McNees does a fine job creating believable individuals. These are the type of women that one could imagine taking a six-day train ride to find a husband. I also liked that McNees created believable men, hardworking and for the most part honest men who are genuinely missing the warmth that comes from having a woman in the house. When Rowena gets over her anger at being married to a man with five children, she ponders what makes a good man. “A good man, Rowena thought now, was a man who moved through the world careful not to do others harm. That was it, simple as it seemed, but it was a profound and essential thing upon which to build an entire life, a succession of lives. Daniel Gibson was this sort of good man. Rowena didn’t love him, but she wished mightily that she could. Whoever did love him—and someone certainly would—was a blessed woman indeed.”

I found that I had several things to ponder as I read In Need of a Good Wife. Would I be willing to take such a chance for a new life? Do you have to love a man to have a good marriage? Does a woman need to be married to have a fulfilled life? Why shouldn’t a woman be able to take care of herself?

As I was finishing up the book last night, Rakan, the young Saudi Arabian man who until recently lived in the apartment in our home, came to visit and brought his new wife Michelle. She is a cousin that he had not seen since they were young children—not seen until the night of their wedding two weeks ago. She came to the United States two days ago with a man that she hardly knew to go to a school that she knew nothing about. As we sat and talked, I could see her become visibly more relaxed. Perhaps she thought that this new life wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

As in The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, which I read two years ago, McNees has done an excellent job of taking us to a place and time that we know little about or have read only snippets of information about. We have all heard about “mail order brides,” but it was enlightening to take a peek into the psyches of women who would make such a choice and leave everything they knew to head out into the frontier.

In an interview on public radio, McNees was asked a question about the difference between good and bad historical fiction. Her answer defined for me why I like her writing while I generally am not very fond of historical fiction. She says: “Bad historical fiction happens when an author decides to ‘teach’ readers about a particular period or historical event, or when he feels he must prove how much research he did by including a massive amount of historical detail that is irrelevant to the story. If you are writing a novel, your job is to tell a story … Good historical fiction evokes an era—its zeitgeist, its particular food and clothing, perhaps—but, as in all good fiction, the narrative must be driven by well-developed characters who are in trouble.”

Here is Kelly O’Connor McNees’ website: http://kellyoconnormcnees.com/
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Dec 13, 2012 Erika Robuck rated it 5 of 5 stars

In post-Civil War New York, three women are imprisoned by their lives or pasts. From heartbreak and loss, to the alienation of being a poor immigrant, they find that they have nothing left to lose, so why not embark upon an adventure to the west?

The primary protagonist, Clara Bixby, works in the bar her father used to own, and is abandoned by her philandering husband. Elsa is a kind, lonely immigrant who is tired of working for the upper class, with no life or freedom of her own. Rowena is a fei...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-by-friends, pleasure-reading, work-review-related-reading

I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction--I think I overdosed on it in my tween and teen years. But there are a few writers working these days that I do pay attention to, and Kelly O'Connor McNees is one of them. I so loved her first book, The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, I could hardly wait for this new one. It entails mail order brides coming from New York City to the nearly womanless town of Destination, Nebraska in 1866. Clara Bixby, heartbroken over her baby's death and her husband lea...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Rebecca Brothers rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you are looking for a completely compelling, lovely read, this book is it. The story follows several women on a particularly daring journey west. It is just after the Civil War and many women in Manhattan City are left widowed or at a serious loss for eligible men. One enterprising young woman has decided to take matters into her own hands by arranging long-distance courtships between these women and the eager men in the frontier town of Destination, Nebraska. What follows is a tale impossibl...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Kaira Rouda rated it 5 of 5 stars

In Need of a Good Wife is a wonderful re-entry into the world of the past wild, wild west. The three female characters are strong, the writing vibrant and the setting desperately beautiful. I really enjoyed this novel.

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 12, 2012 Kelly Hager rated it 5 of 5 stars

Clara Bixby's life is getting worse by the minute. Her husband left her for another woman and she's just lost her job. Her prospects aren't looking very good. Then she reads an article about a small town comprised almost entirely of men in Nebraska and has the best idea ever: what if she were to become a matchmaker? That town needs women and surely she can manage to find wives for those that want them.

The story is told from the perspectives of Clara, Rowena (a young widow whose husband was kille...more

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Nov 16, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Clara Bixby is brokenhearted and newly unemployed in post-Civil War Manhattan City. Upon seeing a newspaper article describing the abundance of single men in Destination, Nebraska, she devises a plan to become a broker of mail-order brides for these lonely men in order to remedy her financial situation and perhaps begin a new life of her own. This book weaves a vivid tale describing her endeavors and those of the women and men she attempts to join together on the prairie.

Historical fiction is on...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Ashley Arthur rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won a copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway listed by the author.

In the years following the Civil War, Clara Bixby hatches a plan for a new beginning – she organizes a matchmaking service to provide New York brides for men in the frontier town of Destination, Nebraska. Clara knows the process won’t be foolproof, and both the women and the men may have to adjust their expectations, but she is surprised by just how many snags she hits on the journey to get her group of ladies out West.

McNe...more

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Oct 18, 2012 M.K. McClintock rated it 3 of 5 stars

A Reader's Opinion: The idea behind this book is the best part about it. I enjoyed the storyline and the concept. The characters were written in a way that I either liked them or hated them. This book took me a surprisingly long time to get through. It moved right along and didn't slow down, but it also didn't pull me. Though predictable at times, I still enjoyed the stories of the individual women. The town is depicted well and I even found myself cringing when I thought about these city women...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Kimberly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: firstreads

This book was pretty good. It follows three different post-Civil War women, who each has her own reason to leave New York - becoming or setting up mail-order brides - and settle in Destination, Nebraska. There is a Christian theme, but it fits and isn't overpowering at all. It's actually a soothing, well-paced read. I received my copy via the First Reads program.

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Feb 22, 2013 Samantha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, favorites

*I received a free copy through Goodreads first reads*
In Need of a Good Wife follows the tied in lives of three women: Clara, Elsa, and Rowena. Clara is a middle aged woman who not only lost her son, but who lost her husband as well when he took off with another woman. Elsa is an immigrant servant who doesn't feel a need for romantic love too badly, but wants her living conditions improved. Rowena is a young and wealthy widow whose husband died in battle, leaving her without much money to take c...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Carla Hostetter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not a romance by any means but a solid historical novel based on the lives of real mail-order brides going west after the Civil War. The story centers on three women, a war widow who is initially sympathetic, an older immigrant fit only to be a housekeeper, and clever Clara who thinks she will escape the drudgery of her N.Y. City life and feckless husband by arranging marriages for profit. Most of the brides are just there to fill in the story and several fall by the wayside through cold feet or...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

It is so hard to find a GOOD book anymore. This is one. After six decades of voracious reading, I am a tough audience though I understand how hard it must be to come up with something new, fresh, different. However, I will say to writers, "Sorry, but that's your job!".

Though this is an old, old story written over and over, I have always loved the idea of 'order-up brides' and read them again and again. This writer really came up with something new, different and some dialogue that made me laugh...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Josephine rated it 2 of 5 stars

I’d give this book 2 stars. If I could it would have been 2.5. One for a good storyline, one for being technically well-written.

Storyline: The setting and premise of the book is intriguing and unique. The author does an excellent job of describing the urban squalor of New York as well as the desolation of a frontier town in the Plains.

Characters: The characters are written with great detail, but I just could not connect with them.

The ‘good’ characters are archetypically good; the virtuous (an...more

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Oct 02, 2012 nomadreader (Carrie D-L) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to nomadreader (Carrie D-L) by: Publisher's Weekly

(originally published at http://nomadreader.blogspot.com)

The basics: Shortly after the Civil War, Clara Bixby, whose husband ran off with another woman, reads about Destination, Nebraska in the newspaper, and she realizes it's the perfect business venture for her after she loses her job at a tavern in Manhattan City, New York. Clara writes to Destination's mayor and strikes a deal: she'll provide widows and single women willing to move to Destination to get married if the men will pay for their...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Catherine Richmond added it

Since writing a mail-order bride story, I've read many others and this is one of the best.

When Clara Bixby's husband runs off with another woman, then she's laid off from her job in a tavern, she decides to leave Manhattan. She carefully interviews a group of brides for bachelors in Destination, Nebraska, and they head west. What could go wrong? Everything!

I liked so many aspects of this book - the attention to historical detail and language, the strong spiritual thread running through the stor...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Michelle added it

After the Civil War, thousands of unmarried women were left to fend for themselves, thanks to a dearth of eligible men, in a society that still did not foster that type of independence. Enter Clara, a woman reeling from her own loss, who hits upon a way to help out a small town in Nebraska and earn her the independence she so desperately craves. Against all odds, she creates her band of brides-to-be who all have their own reasons for seeking a new life. Beset by unfortunate and unforeseen circum...more After the Civil War, thousands of unmarried women were left to fend for themselves, thanks to a dearth of eligible men, in a society that still did not foster that type of independence. Enter Clara, a woman reeling from her own loss, who hits upon a way to help out a small town in Nebraska and earn her the independence she so desperately craves. Against all odds, she creates her band of brides-to-be who all have their own reasons for seeking a new life. Beset by unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances, the women must prove their mettle in an unforgiving land far away from everything that is familiar to them. Kelly O'Connor McNees' second novel, In Need of a Good Wife explores the experiences of these courageous women who give up everything for the chance to find happiness and contentment.

On the surface, Clara's brides are anything but similar. Elsa is the pragmatic, unsentimental one, fashioned through years of solitude and her life as an immigrant from Germany. Elsa is the character with whom readers will sympathize the most. Her patience and complacency are admirable and immediately create a connection with readers. Rowena is the romantic ingenue, trying to find the means to maintain her formerly decadent lifestyle without too much sacrifice. In other words, she is a snob and is not afraid to show it. Clara is the bitter one, trying to overcome her previous failings and running from her past. She has a prickly exterior but underneath is someone who is truly suffering from heartache. Together, they make up the crux of Bixby's Belles, mail-order brides for a small frontier town hundreds of miles away from home.

As different as the women are, they all crave fresh beginnings, and that is the point. Clara is the first to recognize this and capitalizes upon this thought to the envy and ridicule of others. Everyone who settled the west was seeking something - land of one's own, anonymity, money, happiness. Mail-order brides were no different. The story becomes truly fascinating as each bride and groom come to recognize the similarities in spite of their individual differences, while the ensuing struggles against any such recognition is what generates the tension and fuels the reader forward through the story.

Ms. O'Connor McNees has done it again. With her careful research and exquisite attention to detail, her characters, real and imaginary, leap from the page. In Need of a Good Wife is not only informative about the perils of frontier living, it is also a character study of the types of people who were driven west. It captures perfectly the fortitude of not only Miss Bixby's Belles but all of the pioneers searching for a fresh start within the hard-scrabble life of the untamed west. With this second novel as well-written and entertaining as her debut novel, Ms. O'Connor McNees is proving to be a name to watch among historical fiction novelists!

Acknowledgments: Thank you to Lindsay Boggs from Penguin Group for my review copy!(less)

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Oct 28, 2012 Dianna rated it 3 of 5 stars

A friend won this book from Goodreads and passed it to me. Thank you!

This was a fun and engaging tale set in the mid 1860's of settlers in the newly established west. A woman from New York, Clara Bixby, needed to a chance to start her life over. Working in her deceased father's tavern, now owned by Rathbone, she sees an article in the newspaper that a customer leaves behind. After reading about this town in Nebraska, whose population is mostly men, she decides to become a broker for mail order b...more

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Dec 11, 2012 Renee Rosen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This wonderful second novel by author Kelley O'Connor McNees left me completely enamored! I can honestly say it was one of the best books I've read this year. McNees captures it all--great characters, engrossing story and beautiful writing. She weaves a mesmerizing tale of three very different women who leave New York City for American West.

Clara, a down-on-her-luck woman with hopes for a better future, embarks on a mail order bride business. When she and her young brides journey to Destination...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Katie Trenerowski rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, historical-fiction

As I received this first-reads novel to read, I was very mislead by the title. My first reaction to the title was an over-zealous man trying to put reins on his wife who was "too outspoken." Boy was I wrong. This was a clever historical fiction novel on a subject I knew little about.

Brief Synopsis:
After Clara Bixby loses her job, she becomes an entrepreneur and decides to take charge of her own destiny. Her business: find brides for men who are in Destination, Nebraska. THrough her journey of f...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Chelsey rated it 5 of 5 stars

This story is told from the viewpoints of three very different women who are all heading out west after the Civil War. The three women are as different as night and day. One is a war widow that took me a little while to warm up to, the next is a truly humble housekeeper and immigrant, and then we have Clara who hopes to earn a living arranging marriages out west and is leaving the great state of New York behind in the process. It truly was remarkable to see and hear the Wild, Wild West from the...more This story is told from the viewpoints of three very different women who are all heading out west after the Civil War. The three women are as different as night and day. One is a war widow that took me a little while to warm up to, the next is a truly humble housekeeper and immigrant, and then we have Clara who hopes to earn a living arranging marriages out west and is leaving the great state of New York behind in the process. It truly was remarkable to see and hear the Wild, Wild West from the perspectives of these three women. I loved Clara and Elsa the best because of their good hearts and the humbleness that they so often expressed. Rowena, on the other hand, was complex, manipulative, and at times I did not like her. She balances out Clara and Elsa and adds just the topsy turvy twist that this novel needed.

The language in this book is almost like a lullaby at times. I tried to pick out a few examples of this in my quotes above. The descriptions are somewhat lyrical and have the ability to transport you to the setting, which is a whole other topic of interest. I would read this book again just to study McNees’ writing abilities. After reading certain paragraphs I found myself having to pause and go back, just pondering the scene I just read. With the beautiful lyrical speech comes well developed characters and character aspirations. The character development was just the unfolding of setting and circumstances: lyrical and beautiful! I love to read about food and one of my quotes above depicts Elsa, the housekeeper, caramelizing onions and it is just so melodic to read about. I don’t even like onions and I was so caught up in passages like this one.

The time period, location, and topic of the plot line all kept me interested throughout the entire book. I have never read anything about mail order brides and I don’t know why but it has always been something that I have had questions about. McNees does a wonderful job exploring this topic and the issues surrounding it within this novel, and her historical evidence and backdrop played into the plot very well. This book is not a romance novel, but it fits and you will be so wrapped up in the stories of these three women that romance will not even be on your mind. The journey through frontier life was enough to keep me satisfied. It is just such a cozy world with warm hearths and Elsa’s wonderful cooking. This book will make a wonderful Christmas present for anyone who loves life out West and this particular time period.

***A big thank you to the publishers at Berkley Trade for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***
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May 14, 2013 Kayse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

In Need of a Good Wife follows the lives of three women--Clara, Elsa, and Rowena--in their journey West in the years after the Civil War. Clara, alone and destitute after she is abandoned by her smooth-talking, spendthrift husband, decides to embark in a mail-order bride business and import willing spinsters and widows into Destination, Nebraska, a town devoid of women that Clara has read about in the newspaper. Among her chosen ladies are Elsa, a middle-aged laundress who is yearning to throw o...more In Need of a Good Wife follows the lives of three women--Clara, Elsa, and Rowena--in their journey West in the years after the Civil War. Clara, alone and destitute after she is abandoned by her smooth-talking, spendthrift husband, decides to embark in a mail-order bride business and import willing spinsters and widows into Destination, Nebraska, a town devoid of women that Clara has read about in the newspaper. Among her chosen ladies are Elsa, a middle-aged laundress who is yearning to throw off her yoke of servitude, and Rowena, a young, spoiled heiress who has recently lost both her husband and her fortune. The women are seeking different things from their venture West, but all three will rediscover themselves they hadn't dared thought possible. In the end, despite that none of them got what they had initially bargained for, each woman gets not a typical "happily-ever-after ending," but the promise of one.

I was alternately frustrated with Clara and Rowena for different reasons(view spoiler), but Elsa was a saint. Clara and Elsa were very likable characters, but Rowena I simply couldn't connect with. She had a lot of misfortunes, and I suppose I should have sympathized, but she was so irritating (view spoiler)that I couldn't feel sorry for her.

This was a good book, overall (despite Rowena being in it), and the subject I think is especially interesting. Anyone who has read Sarah, Plain and Tall surely must be a little fascinated with the notion of mail-order brides. It's difficult to imagine with our 21st century sensibilities that situations could appear so bleak to women in the mid 19th century (or today, really) that the best option really seemed like hopping a train out West and getting married to the first stranger who speaks for you.(less)

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Jan 14, 2013 Ariel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Clara Bixby wants out of New York City. Her baby has died in infancy and her no good cheating husband has abandoned her. To get the money to start over she hatches a crazy plan. She is going to shepherd other ladies looking for their own escape out of the city and on to new husbands in Destination, Nebraska. The mail order brides will find new lives in a prairie town lacking in women. Among the ladies looking to head out west is middle aged Elsa, an immigrant wanting to break free from the laund...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Christie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 19th-century, controversial-issues, historical-fiction, romance

First sentence: "The oak planks in the floor of Rathbone's basement tavern, Clara knew, were lined with invisible cracks."

Clara Bixby is a Manhattan barmaid trying to maintain her independence and escape the ghosts of the past. Rowena Moore is a war widow (Civil War that is) struggling to make ends meet with an invalid father. Elsa Traugot is a Bavarian immigrant who has known nothing but servitude and hard work since coming to America as a child. These three women want desperately to begin aga...more First sentence: "The oak planks in the floor of Rathbone's basement tavern, Clara knew, were lined with invisible cracks."

Clara Bixby is a Manhattan barmaid trying to maintain her independence and escape the ghosts of the past. Rowena Moore is a war widow (Civil War that is) struggling to make ends meet with an invalid father. Elsa Traugot is a Bavarian immigrant who has known nothing but servitude and hard work since coming to America as a child. These three women want desperately to begin again and seize the chance that a town out West suffering from a dearth of women can give them. The going will not be easy but each woman will find in Destination, Nebraska exactly what they never knew they needed.

I very much enjoyed Kelly O'Connor McNees' debut novel The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott so when I heard she had a new book out I decided to give it a try. I was not disappointed. The author writes very compelling stories about realistic and strong women. I liked the fact in this book that the characters have realistic flaws and aren't all drop dead gorgeous and young with the ability to wrap a man around their finger at first sight. Clara, Rowena, and Elsa each get the chance to shine in the novel which is told from the point of view of each woman in turn. I liked reading Elsa's parts the best. The setting descriptions do not suffer from such colorful characters. It is very easy to feel as if you are there with the women on the streets of Manhattan or on the Nebraska prairie. The author did her research on the time period and it shows throughout the story.

I did have some issues with the book though they did not sour my enjoyment of the book at all. The book definitely is more historical romance than The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott was. All the conflict is resolved and the ends tied up very neatly (almost too neatly) at the end of the book. I'm not saying I don't like happy endings, it's just endings that are too sugary sweet grate on me a bit, especially when you have such huge conflicts as this book had. However, if that is your thing definitely pick this book up. That being said I would have liked an epilogue or something at the end of the book that told what happened to each of the characters (especially the ones that just seemed to stop being talked about after the midway point).

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to people who enjoy a good pioneer story and like reading about strong women that can think on their feet and can enjoy the company of a man without becoming dependent on said man. It is a good representation of the time period and a very readable story with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. (less)

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Oct 26, 2012 Lisa Bauer rated it 5 of 5 stars

In Need of a Good Wife is the story of three women that unfolds beautifully, smoothly and eloquently. The three women find themselves in circumstances they could never have imagined making decisions equally difficult to fathom. Set in the 1800s from New York City to Nebraska, McNess sets a sweeping backdrop of the culture, physical difficulties and grand beauty of the times. The story is told through the three main characters, which lends a richness and diverse viewpoint of life. It was a diffic...more

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Apr 20, 2013 SavageGrace rated it 4 of 5 stars

I felt so bad for Daniel at the end of this and so angry at Rowena for giving up and, especially, not only hurting Daniel and the children, but rubbing it in by stealing that necklace (and giving it to a whore - WTF!? So heartless!).

Pretty please do a story on Daniel!! I really would love to see him end up happy!

Oh, and I hope Clara and Cartwright end up together - and he leaves the log cabin slags alone ;-)

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Jan 18, 2013 Linnet rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's 1866 and Clara is frustrated with life in Manhattan. It's too crowded, too dirty and there are no opportunities. She sees a way to make some money and get out of town by finding women willing to go the Nebraska as eligible woman looking to marry. She makes the trip with some of the women she was able to sign up. Most of the story focuses on what becomes of Clara, Elsa and Rowena. Life was not easy in the West.

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