An Inconvenient Wife

An Inconvenient Wife

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3.77 of 5 stars 3.77  ·  rating details  ·  1,354 ratings  ·  258 reviews
In this wholly absorbing historical novel, Mrs. Lucy Carelton, who comes from one of the wealthiest and most prominent families in 1880s New York City, has been completely undone by her nerves. Her ambitious husband, a nouveau riche stockbroker, drags her from one doctor to another in search of a cure that will allow her to fulfill her many social obligations without givin...more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published December 28th 2005 by Grand Central Publishing (first published April 27th 2004)
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willaful
Sep 16, 2010 willaful rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of intelligent gothics or historical fiction
I find it annoying that some reviewers criticize this novel on the basis of Chance having been a romance writer. If a book isn't to your tastes, that’s one thing, but I suspect these readers were too prejudiced by that information to give it a fair shake to begin with. Chance has always been an amazing writer; she's definitely moved from historical romance to historical fiction, but I have no complaints--not when she’s still writing such complex and fascinating windows into another time.

Lucy is...more
Christina
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Monique
Whoa..wavered between a four and a five star rating for this book but alas had to admit that this novel was compulsively readable and interesting...I found myself reaching for this book every spare moment I had and I love that feeling because honestly I wasnt that sure this book would be all that it turned out to be..This is the story of Lucy, a woman born into high society, spoiled and married for the last four years and living a life that would be perfect except she suffers bouts of nervousnes...more
Diana
Wow....my first experience with Ms. Chance and I just couldn't put it down, literally. I ended up downloading it to my phone so I could read it while waiting in line at the market, while running on the treadmill, waiting at the ATM....you get the idea. End result: A library book that I chose because of its interesting sepia cover, which languished on my book pile until it was almost due back was devoured in just 3, sleep-deprived days.

What a riveting story: from the illness to the affair - or wa...more
Rachel G
The New York high society of the 1880s never saw Lucy Carlton coming. She suffers from hysteria and has already gone through 10 doctors in 4 years who haven't been able to cure her when her husband, William, takes her to Dr. Victor Seth. Dr. Seth is a neurologist who specializes in women's issues and treats his patients through hypnotism. Lucy Carlton is a hypnotists dream patient who takes to suggestion perfectly. This leads to Dr. Seth giving into temptation and suggesting to Lucy that she sho...more
Elizabeth Scott
I should have reviewed this book ages ago, but I recently re-read it and realized that a. I hadn't written anything about it on goodreads and b. I absolutely need to because this book is majorly under appreciated.

An Inconvenient Wife is set (mostly) in New York City during the mid-1880s. Lucy Carleton, a member of New York's most elite social circle, is having some problems. She finds most of the social events she's required to attend taxing, frequently having "fits" and her husband, William is...more
Mary Novaria
Mar 14, 2010 Mary Novaria rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Mary by: Linda
An Inconvenient Wife, although more complicated, is reminiscent of Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Megan Chance's heroine, Lucy Carleton dares to have lusty desires and creative passions in 1895 New York, much to the dismay of her husband, father and society friends. They all think she's lost her mind--and as was in vogue for that repressed era, a woman's psychological problems were assumed to be caused by her reproductive system. Despite consulting doctor after doctor for help, Lucy's husband coul...more
Kathleen Valentine
I ordered Megan Chance's An Inconvenient Wife from Amazon on impulse. I tend to love books about the “upper classes” in Victorian New York. I love Edith Wharton and gobbled up Caleb Carr's two books (The Alienist and Angel of Darkness) on that period with relish. E.L. Doctrow's Ragtime is still one of my favorite books. So when I read the description of An Inconvenient Wife it sounded like my kind of book. It arrived Thursday at 4, I finished it last night at midnight.

I won't say it was a great...more
Ktphd1
This book is a sexy, women's lib coming of age story. It begins by strongly indicting the culturally male dominated, socially inferior female status of the Gilded Age and its associated, abhorrent, medical treatment of female hysteria, such as the use of medical faradizations. (Interestingly, Sigmund Freud was also a student of Charcot's medical electrotherapeutic orgasms---REALLY-- but gave up faradizations for hypnosis two years into his practice).

"I am a highly qualified physician and she is...more
Collsells
This is the exact time period that I'd love to travel back to and live a day. I just loved this book and have been searching for others like it, since I've read it.
Rachel Gaffney
I read this book last Summer at the beach. I could not put it down. I loved it...loved the writing and how she doesnt labour a point too much...it had everything in it from story,to history,sex to a twist !
Nina
New York in the late 1800's; Lucy Carleton is 30 years old, married to a handsome man, wears elegant gowns, and attends the best parties, but for the last four years she's been suffering from hysterical fits and depression. Lucy and her husband William have seen no less than ten doctors who have suggested many things, the latest, spending time in an asylum. William is desperate, but wants to find an alternative, and soon meets a new Doctor.

Victor Seth is a neurologist and hypnotist, but to some,...more
Suze
What I learned from An Inconvenient Wife about life for society women in New York in the 1880s made me happy I grew up some 90 years later. Lucy Carelton is a passionate woman living in a repressed Victorian society. Descended from the Knickerbockers, she marries (beneath her) stockbroker William Carelton, believing that he shares her passions, at least in love. In fact, William is a social climber who has little use for painting and other indulgences that provide outlets for his wife's passions...more
Jen Hayes
As I finished the last 124 pages this afternoon at a Cosi in Mt. Kisco, "An Inconvenient Wife has me in a spell, like Lucy's spell cast by Seth," I mused. I raced through to the end of the book, and then sadly, the end of the last paragraph, my mouth agape. As if in a trance, I swept up my half-empty iced latte, and made a slow start for the door. As I pushed through the 12' tall glass doors, littered with fingerprints of guests of all sizes, I thought, "Surely I haven't been reading long enough...more
Kait
Dec 04, 2011 Kait rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Historians, Students, Women, Escapists, Lovers of Historical Fiction.
I loved this book and I could not put it down (I even read it during some of my college classes)! I picked this book up on impulse while perusing the college library fiction stacks and I wasn't sure I would enjoy the book. It sounded very similar to The Awakening by Kate Chopin or Room with a View by E.M. Forster, neither of whom I'm a fan. I thought I'd give it a try anyway and I was not disappointed.

The novel follows Mrs. Lucy Carelton, a woman who comes from high society and has married well....more
Deb
Lucy is a society wife who suffers from "nervous disorders" and "uterine monomania" in the late 19th century. She has seen many doctors, but none seem to be able to cure her until she is under the care of Dr. Victor Seth, a neurologist who uses hypnosis to cure female patients. He discovers a passionate woman who has been told to button up her passion since she was a young girl. He helps her find her true self while falling in love with her "his creation" as he sees it, and the resultant scandal...more
Deborah
Wow, this book was so unexpected. It's historical fiction, erotic, and a filled with passion. It was one of those books that a reader can't wait to get back to reading.

Lucy is trying to escape the confines of a high society social life that keeps her restricted and tense most of the time. Her husband has sent her to numerous doctors hoping one of them will keep his wife from going into hysteria.

Then one day Lucy stumbles upon Dr. Seth who is an up and coming doctor educated in the powers of hypn...more
Lady of the Lake
I really liked this book the subject matter is an eye opener letting you know that Victorian women were property of the husband and there is no romance about the time period for women wether high society or lower classes woman were not their own person. So if you think it would be romantic to time travel the Heroes we read about in our romance novels are not the norm! It would be awful to be a woman back in time! No rights to anything other than your own thoughts and only if you never speak them...more
Stephanie
Great idea, poorly executed. The author's background as a romance novelist really shows-- think something with Fabio on the cover. Shallow characters, stale dialogue, and narration that directs your conclusions rather than eliciting them. I would LOVE to see this fascinating topic (Victorian era women diagnosed with "hysteria") tackled by someone more competent.

That said, it's reasonbly entertaining and a fast read, largely due to the subject matter. I would take this over chick lit or Lifetime...more
Teatree_elle
I wanted to like this book. I had read the sample and thought it was entertaining enough to purchase and continue reading. I should have just put the book down when after numerous attempts, I would always find something better to do. Putting on my earphones to listen to music, for example. There wasn't much that compelled me to continue reading it other than the fact that I had bought it. So I forced myself to read...

And while I was occasionally amused, I felt that the book lacked definitive sub...more
Vicki
I was Intrigued by this period novel. Wealthy Women were treated like accessories to their husbands. They were expected to do as their husband expected. They had babies, shopped, entertained friends, organized dinners and balls and were expected to be very prim and proper. Lucy the main character did not fit the perfect mold. She loved to paint and draw and enjoy nature and passion and she did not want children, she wanted to pursue her passions. This book explores how women, who did not coopera...more
Heidi
Three stars because I could stand to read it. Definitely would not have read it just for itself, but it covers a period of history that I'm writing about and the characters are not so one-dimensional that to read about them is unbearably boring. On the other hand, they are definitely not shaded, unpredictable, multidimensional, or fully real. Victorian upper class society woman in New York is compelled to follow stultifying rules and becomes hysterical and neurasthenic through emotional and sexu...more
Cathy
I highly reccommend this book! Set in 1885, this is the perfect book for anybody who likes historical fiction with romance, without the modern day "smut" that comes into play with some "romance" novels. Very tastefully written, and the reader feels Lucy's strain her society life puts on her. The reader will sympathize with her, even during the dark times that she herself creates. It takes a couple of twists I certainly didn't see coming and one simply can't put it down in the second half. It's a...more
Tamara Herrera
This book surprised me in a good way. I picked this up expecting a story about a society woman's hysteria in late 1800 New York, including all the barbaric and misguided treatments that follow. The story did have this, but then it took a turn toward Chopin's The Awakening, and we get to see how this society woman struggles to overcome what society put upon her (her predetermined roll by not just her father, but her husband, her friends, and her doctors). Without giving away too much, the story e...more
Crystal O'Leary-Davidson
The Seattle Times' blurb called this a novel that "Edith Wharton might have written if she had lived in the twenty-first century." While Wharton's artistry is still ahead of Megan Chance's, she does explore some of the same territory about The Gilded Age. Chance's novel is also reminiscent of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, and a few of her short stories. Well-researched, well-written, excellent plotting. An absorbing read that leaves you much to think about on the roles of women in the 19th and 21...more
Regina
An insightful account of the severe restrictions of a "hysteria-prone" society woman in the Victorian era. I was mesmerized yet horrified by the total control not only of husbands and fathers over wives and daughters, but also by ambitious doctors who treat these women. Although Lucy's account was written in first person--usually an instant turn off--I was immediately engrossed in her tale and remained that way throughout the end. A wonderful and highly recommended read and certainly worthy of a...more
Josee
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Pamela Pickering
3.5 stars. My first book from this author. Actually, I've never heard of her before and I believe she has 4(?) books out. I'm having a little bit of a hard time rating this book. It's an interesting look at how women in the late 1800's were being diagnosed with "hysteria". If a woman might be exhibiting some sort of behavior that didn't coincide what society thought was the norm or proper it was believed in many cases that this was somehow related to the uterus or sexual release. I know this way...more
Kate
Mike recommended this book to me. He saw someone reading an airplane and thought I would like it. This is the story of a society wife in the late 1800 in New York. She feels stifled by her life and she and her husband go from doctor to doctor seeking a "cure" for her behavior and receiving horrible "treatments" along the way. It is amazing to think about how little freedom women had during this time period. I would hate to have lived back then. This book reminded me of The Yellow Wallpaper.
Miss_otis
I did like this book a great deal, even as it pissed me off HUGELY. Seriously, just the word “hysteria” in this context can send me on hour-long rants about the Victorian patriarchy and how women of certain social standings were delicate little flowers, and that the entire point of a woman's existence was apparently to serve (and service) men; certainly they weren’t to have sexual feelings at all, and if they did, then clearly, there was something wrong with them they had to be “cured” of. Not t...more
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What's The Name o...: Historical Fiction - Woman committed for having affair, "hysteria"? /s 10 212 Apr 05, 2013 09:57am  
The Ending 3 60 Jun 17, 2012 05:02am  
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Megan Chance is the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of several novels. Her first book won Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award for excellence in Romantic Fiction, and since then, her novels have received several awards and award nominations. The Be...more
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