The Wife Upstairs Quotes

“It’s funny because even though I had told Mack I was sure I was doing the right thing by moving in with Adam, I guess I did slightly have some doubts. There was this little nagging voice in the back of my head telling me it was too soon and I should wait.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“In life, things never go quite the way you want them to. But when you’re creating your own fictional world, you can make everything happen exactly how you want it to.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“I can’t say to him what I’m really thinking, which is that this house gives me the creeps. Maybe Victoria loved it here, but I don’t. And for that matter, his wife gives me the creeps too. There’s something about her and that blank expression that terrifies me. It’s an awful thing to say about a woman who has been through something horrible, but I can’t help it.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“grab some”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“One lesson I’ve learned in life is that people don’t apologize much. At least, not as much as they should.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“Last night, Adam took me to see Hamilton. That’s a show that’s really big right now, based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury. I know, it’s hard to believe that could be a hit Broadway show, but it really is.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“Nothing matters anymore. I’m just going to let myself rot on the sofa. Maybe if I make myself disgusting enough, Adam will leave me alone.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“The truth is, I think about him all the time. He’s my last thought when I go to bed at night and my first thought when I wake up in the morning. I dream about him.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“It’s so hard to read about what happened to her. Before I started reading, I believed she was happy until the moment she fell down the stairs. Now I know she wasn’t. And with every entry, it just seems to get worse.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“That night in the bar, when Mack told me how he felt? I should have ended it with Adam. I should never have married him. I should be with Mack. I made the wrong decision.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“feel guilty about Victoria too. She doesn’t know what’s going on between the two of us, but she’s got to suspect. And even though she does have a serious brain injury, she’s with it enough that she would understand I’m sleeping with her husband.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“didn’t want to push him too hard, but then I felt guilty. It doesn’t seem fair to Victoria that she should have to eat every meal isolated upstairs in her room.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“She was there for three months and was still completely dependent for everything. She still couldn’t move her right side at all and that was really limiting her progress.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“Mack”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“It sounds like they were miserable people who rooted for him to fail every step of the way.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“It’s funny—you don’t realize how much people like you until you’re leaving.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“And when I look at Adam Barnett, for a moment, I get that sensation. Doom.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“To my girls, of course”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“Well, writing books, I guess.” And then something clicked in my brain.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“In”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“That probably wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t wear such a short skirt,”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“I don’t want to miss even a nanosecond of my children’s lives, because really, you don’t know how long you’re going to have.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“It’s unfortunate that in this day and age, a woman can’t walk down the street wearing even a modestly short skirt without getting whistled at or grabbed! I hope things are better for women at the time you’re reading this.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“I could see the red in Adam’s cheeks, and I knew he was never going to admit what he did was wrong. Because he didn’t believe it was wrong. The only way this fight was ever going to end would be if I apologized for yelling at him and admitted I was a jealous, nagging wife.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“39 SYLVIA Victoria is dressed in a billowy flower-printed dress that I found in her closet. Something tight is out of the question because of her feeding tube and it would not have been flattering with the way she often slumps in the chair. I have a feeling the dress used to be more snug on her, but now it hangs loose on her bony frame. I also spent some time on her hair. I combed it out and put in the oil treatment again, and it looks lush and shiny. I thought about trying to tie it back, but I think it’s most flattering when it’s loose. Now I’m working on her makeup. I put a layer of pink lipstick on her crooked lips, and now I’m doing my best to cover the scar on her left cheek. I don’t think there’s anything I could do to conceal it entirely, but it looks a lot better than when I started. Victoria is allowing me to put on the makeup, but she looks utterly unenthusiastic. I can’t entirely blame her. As much as I chatter about how much fun this will be, I’m not looking forward to it either. Part of me wants to duck out and leave Victoria and Adam to have Thanksgiving alone as a married couple. But the more I read of her diary, I feel like that is not what Victoria wants. She doesn’t want to be alone with him. And I don’t want her to be alone with him either. “There.” I dab on the last of the concealer—I’ve used half the container and the scar is still very visible. “All done.” Victoria just stares at me. “You look beautiful.” I grab the mirror I found in the bathroom and hold it up to her face. “Take a look.” Victoria glances briefly at the mirror, then turns away. She never seems very happy when I show her a mirror. She either looks away or frowns at herself. Sometimes she touches the scar. I wish Adam had shelled out for her to get plastic surgery. I know he thinks she doesn’t notice, but he’s wrong. “I just…” I chew on my lip. “I want you to know that I’m not going to… I mean, Adam is your husband, not mine. I’m going to tell him tonight that I’m not going to…” For the first time since I came in here, Victoria’s eyes show a spark of interest. “It’s not right,” I say. “It was a mistake and I’m sorry. I’ll tell him tonight.” “Be…” She’s focusing so hard on what she wants to say that some drool comes out of the right side of her mouth, smearing her lipstick. “Be… care…” For once, I know exactly what she’s trying to say. Be careful. I leave Victoria to find some nail polish in the bathroom. That’s the last thing I need to complete her look for the evening. I want Victoria to look really beautiful tonight. Like her old self, as much as possible. It’s important to me. Maggie must have moved the nail polish when she was cleaning. I look in the usual place in the closet within the bathroom, but it’s not there anymore. I search through the other shelves, trying to find the bag of multicolor nail polish tubes. I find more makeup, but not polish. But one thing I do find surprises me. It’s a black bag of medications. I never was sure where Adam kept Victoria’s medications. He always just seems to have them ready to administer. I pick up a bottle from the black plastic bag and see the date of the most recent refill. It was less than a month ago.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“I watched him in the dark room. I wanted him to disagree with me. I wanted him to tell me that he loved me too much and that he couldn’t possibly leave. But instead, he got out of bed at two in the morning and started getting dressed.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“She fell down the stairs about nine months ago.” He winces. “In our house. We have this crazy winding staircase and… I was in the city all day with my publisher, so I didn’t find her till later. If I had been there…”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“I once read that when people have near-fatal heart attacks, they get a sense of doom. They describe a sinking sensation before the chest pain even begins, like the world is about to end. It’s a commonly described phenomenon that nobody can explain. But when something terrible is about to happen, people know.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“I get the sense Maggie is reluctant to talk about Victoria Barnett. Which is frustrating, because I get the feeling she’s the only one in this house who might be capable of telling me the truth.”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs

“absolutely magical evening. Hamilton. Deciding to”
― Freida McFadden, The Wife Upstairs