HUSBANDS & LOVERS BY BEATRIZ WILLIAMS
Husbands & Lovers, The New York Times bestseller by Beatriz Williams, is a fascinating historical novel “wrapped” in beachside romance. The novel tells a story of two women, who are separated by decades and continents, and don’t seem to have anything in common.
New England 2022: Mallory Dunne is a single mother of thirteen-year-old Sam whose father is “out of the picture.” Three years ago, Sam was airlifted from a summer camp to a hospital in Boston after he ate a poisonous mushroom that almost took his life. Although he survived, Sam must undergo weekly dialysis to stay alive. While searching for a kidney donor who could give Sam a chance for normal life, Malory is forced to confront two secrets from the past: one she’d rather not touch and another, completely unexpected.
Fourteen years earlier, during her summer “au pair” job with a wealthy family at exclusive Winthrop Island off Long Island Sound, Mallory fell in love with Monk Adams, her best friend from school. As the young lovers planned their future together, a horrible betrayal by Monk’s father forced Malory to flee, forever changing her life.
While searching through belongings of her recently deceased mother Malory discovers that her mother was adopted from an infamous Irish convent orphanage for unwed mothers.
Cairo, 1951: Hannah Ainsworth is a respectable wife of a British diplomat, living a carefree life during her husband’s coveted posting in Egypt. We learn that behind her calm, cool façade, Hannah is desperately trying to forget unspeakable horrors she endured during the war.
Hannah met her current husband after the war when she was recovering in a Displaced Persons camp in Vienna. She volunteered to work as an interpreter for a British officer and helped him uncover a Nazi officer pretending to be a Hungarian war refugee. After many months of working together during the Nuremberg trials, the British officer asked Hannah to marry him. Determined to put behind the tragic loss of her children and husband, Hannah decides to start a new life in England with Alistair Ainsworth, even though he is decades older than she.
A revolution fermenting in Egypt threatens to overthrow King Farouk from his throne, while British expatriates live comfortable lives, filled with tennis games at the exclusive country clubs, shopping, sightseeing, and dining at the best restaurants. A near-deadly bite by an Egyptian cobra, a chance meeting with a mysterious hotel manager, and a clandestine love affair, suddenly thrusts Hannah into the thick of international espionage and intrigue. Furthermore, an unexpected pregnancy amid a country at war leads to a vile betrayal by her husband.
At times, Williams’ alternating narratives from two different time periods may feel confusing and overwhelming to the reader. Many dramatic events pile on top of each other in rapid succession. However, despite all that intensity, the author skillfully leads the reader on a remarkable journey from horrors of World War II to exclusive enclaves of the rich and famous on the shores of New England, from colonial Egypt on the brink of revolution, to grim realities of the Irish convent orphanage in which newborn babies are sold to the highest bidders.
Disregarding the “unfortunate” title page illustration that somewhat misrepresents the content, this book is a great heartwarming story of love, redemption, and forgiveness, an unforgettable page turner.
