📖 Review ~ Her Almost Perfect Husband by Mary Rensten

 

Scriptoria
January 2021

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

Emma Raven thought she knew everything there was to know about Andrew, her clever, ambitious, good-looking husband. They had been happily married for twenty-six years; they had even been at school together: Bernie Silver ‒ Andrew's friend from university in the 1980s and partner in their Islington business, That Music Place ‒ thought he knew him, too.

How wrong they both were. When Andrew is rushed to hospital, and Bernie needs to look at a little red notebook kept locked in his partner’s desk at home in the Hertfordshire village of Pengate ... a whole new side of Andrew’s character comes to light.

Can Emma stay true to her husband, knowing what she does? As her seemingly well-ordered life begins to unravel, in Waltham Cross small-time crook Garry Wade, despite having just come into legitimate money for the first time in his life, discovers that he has good reason to hate Andrew Raven. Should he seek revenge and risk going back to prison?

Her Almost Perfect Husband is a poignant story of love and deception, and the importance of human relationships set against material success.

📖 My Thoughts..

When Emma Raven's husband, Andrew is taken seriously ill, both she and Bernie Silver, her husband's business partner, have to make some serious decisions about the way the business will move forward. Emma is not the most adventurous of souls and for much of her twenty-six year marriage she has been somewhat overshadowed by her rather dominant husband. However, as she and Bernie start to delve deeper into Andrew's business affairs, so a secret starts to emerge which threatens not just Bernie and Andrew's business, but also Emma's future relationship with her husband.

The story unfolds gradually, with several twists and turns, which reveal the full extent of Andrew's shenanigans. I especially liked the inclusion of a few supporting characters who help to move the story along, they're an interesting bunch, especially small time crook, Garry Wade, whose shock discovery forms a major part of the story. 

Her Almost Perfect Husband is a well written mystery about the minutiae of lives which, on the surface, appear successful, but on closer inspection leave much to be desired. The believable circumstances and the heightened emotional response from Emma when she realises her almost perfect husband is very much imperfect makes for an entertaining and enlightening story about the power of retribution, redemption and forgiveness.

About the Author

I spent most of my childhood in Jamaica, returning to England in 1946 to audition for a place at RADA. After drama school I trained as a teacher and wrote plays for my pupils. Then in the 1970s, having settled in Hertfordshire with my husband Ivor and brought up our three children, I combined teaching with free-lance journalism. I started writing drama again in the 1980s, and had plays - for grown-ups this time - on the London fringe, at the Edinburgh Festival and on radio. I still write plays, but they can involve deadlines, so I’m happier writing a novel; I can pace myself and allow time for my allotment - beans, beetroot, courgettes, etc. - and my great-grandson!

Twitter @MaryRensten

Facebook page: not directly, but via SWWJ Facebook.

Website via swwj.co.uk