The wife and the widow

When Kate Keddie's husband John fails to come home from a London medical conference, her comfortable Melbourne life begins to unravel. The more she digs, the more she realizes how little she knew about the man she married: he left his job at a palliative care clinic months ago, and he may never have gone to London at all. Then his body is found, and the widow is left to piece together who her husband really was.

A short ferry ride away, on the small, off-season island of Belport, Abby Gilpin is quietly coming apart in her own marriage. When she stumbles onto evidence that makes her fear the worst about her handyman husband, Ray, she is forced to confront how well she truly knows him.

Winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel, The Wife and the Widow braids these two women's stories together against a wintry, deserted island backdrop. Christian White builds a slow-burn, atmospheric thriller out of ordinary marriages and the secrets kept inside them, leading to a reveal that reframes everything that came before. It is a story about the men in these women's lives, the lies that hold a family together, and how much darkness a quiet town can hide.