A review by nefeli
My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry

Instead of explaining the reasons why I disliked My Husband's Wife, I'll share a few excerpts.

Spoilers ahead.

"Can a man ever be friends with a woman when the relationship is over?"

Yes. People do that all the time.

"I find this unnerving. Not so long ago, I was independent. Content with my own company. But from the minute that Ed and I first spoke at that party six months ago (just six months!), I've felt both strengthened and weakened at the same time."

If you were really content with your own company, then you wouldn't have agreed to marry a man you barely know after two dates.

"'Ta.' His voice is pleased but his eyes troubled. 'Prison visiting, are you?'
I hesitate. Is that what he has me down as? One of those do-gooders who feel it's their duty to befriend the wicked?"

He simply asked if you're visiting someone in prison. Which you are. As his lawyer. You don't have to be a do-gooder who 'befriends the wicked' in order to visit someone in prison.

"Three men are waiting, as if loitering on a street. They all stare. A fourth man is busy cleaning out a goldfish tank, his back to us. It strikes me as being incongruous -murderers looking after goldfish?"

First of all, you don't know that he's a murderer. Second of all, why wouldn't a murderer look after goldfish?

"Ed's hand grips mine so hard that it hurts. Then he releases me and moves away. 'Lily's got a headache.'
No, I haven't, I almost say.
[...]
I stand back, shocked. Despite his ups and downs, Ed has never shouted at me before."

The reason you feel shocked and like you don't know him at all, is because you don't know him at all. You've been on two dates and married for a month.

"'Why couldn't you just have told me about the boiler figures at the start? It would have saved a lot of time.'
'I told you before. I had to set you the clues to see if you were bright enough to handle my case. I must have someone who's on my level for this. Someone on the ball.'"

This is a convice that's setting up little challenges for his lawyer and if she passes the tests, then he'll deem her worthy enough to handle his case. I hoped she would just quit and leave him to play games by himself in prison but, alas, that doesn't happen.

"There was a sigh. 'Davina is going round telling everyone that she had a drink with Ed last Tuesday. I'm sure it's nothing. Look, maybe I shouldn't have said anything. But if I were you, I'd do something about it.'
'What?' My voice came out like a croak.
'Have her to dinner this very week. Have lots of people to dinner. Show her you're a couple.'"

These people are supposed to be adults.

"As we go out of the room, I shoot Joe an 'I'm sorry' look. I can't help it. His reaction to the note has helped to convince me once and for all that he's innocent. You can't fake that kind of thing."

You can. And he did.

"It seems to me that I stain whoever I try to love. Daniel, Daniel's horse, Ed... Who is next?"

Are you telling me that in all your life you've only loved your husband, your brother and a horse?

'Can you describe your new neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Jones?' Tony asks.
The young man sighs audibly. 'Difficult. We complained about the noise of their television. First to them, but when they ignored us, we wrote to the council, but nothing's changed. It's become completely unbearable. We've put in for another place.'
'Would you believe their claims of hearing screaming from the deceased's home?'
'Frankly, I'd be surprised if they could hear anything above the sound of their television.'
I knew Tony was good. But not this good.

If anything, shouldn't the fact that you could hear the TV through the walls actually prove that you could definitely hear screams through the walls? I don't think Tony is as good as you think.

"Coincidences are one of those things which sound contrived until they happen in real life."

But this isn't real life, it's a book, in which the coincidences are contrived.

"A decision has to be made. One way or the other. A coin. Daniel used to toss a coin when he didn't know what to do. I pick up a magazine that I've left by the side of the bath. If I open on a page with an odd number, I'll leave. If it's even, I'll stay."

Okay, but this is a magazine. No matter where you open it there's going to be two pages, the left one and the right one. One odd-numbered and one even-numbered. How will this work?

"Now he's at home during the day, he's started doing the housework while searching for a new job -something I'm sure his traditional parents would be shocked at. He doesn't do it as well as I would, but I appreciate the gesture."

Let's give him an award for the gesture doing housework in his own fucking house.

Tom had been allowed to go to the local school, despite his special needs; partly because of our local connections, and partly because we'd argued that we wanted him to be in mainstream schooling. If he was with others 'like him', Ed had argued, Tom wouldn't have any role models to help him improve.

You sound like terrible parents.

"Besides, who wants an unfaithful husband? Good-quality wine glasses are far more useful."

I actually agree with this.