3.5
The Doctor's Wife
ByPublisher Description
Sheila Redden, a devoted mother and reserved wife of a busy Belfast surgeon, is awaiting the arrival of her husband at a Paris hotel. In a matter of days, they'll be celebrating a second honeymoon after sixteen years of marriage. But Sheila never could've imagined the chance encounter with Tom, a handsome and attentive American student—or that in one inexplicable moment, she'd abandon everything she knows to disappear into the unknown with an irresistible stranger.
It's more than a sexual awakening. It's a chance to see her ordinary life from a distance—her dutiful role as mother and wife, her sacrifices, her lost sense of self, and the realization that she's already been vanishing little by little for quite some time. All the while, Sheila's concerned husband and brother are retracing her steps, following her on a cathartic and devastating journey that's far from over.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Doctor's Wife Reviews
3.5
“After reading so many contemporary novels recently, principally the 2025 Booker Prize long-list, it was intriguing to dig out this book by Brian Moore from the 1970s. I was unsure what to expect after the disparate books I had read previously by him: Black Robe and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, which I had enjoyed although for different reasons.
Apparently The Doctor’s Wife was deemed scandalous, almost pornographic, by society and readers of the time, including the Prime Minister’s Wife apparently. There are a lot of sex scenes…
The story is told mainly but not exclusively from the perspective of a Catholic Belfast consultant surgeon’s wife, Sheila or Mrs Redden as she is frequently referred to in the book which is done I presume to emphasis her marital status.
Initially the reader is unclear about the reasons for Sheila wishing to escape from her gilded cage: living the life of luxury with the boring quotidian tasks performed by paid staff. Mrs Redden it becomes clear is in not just an unhappy marriage full of disharmony and overt rows but the victim of what we would now call coercive control and domestic violence culminating in marital rape.
During the novel Sheila has a holiday fling with a young American post grad student and as a result her life and that of her extended family is held up to scrutiny and no one escapes unscathed.
The sole redeeming person is in the unlikely figure of a slightly scruffy priest at Notre Dame who offers Sheila impartial advice and a shoulder to cry on.
Interestingly The Troubles are a significant part of this book but more as an inevitable background and not an overwhelming presence in the plot: they are part of the fabric of 1970s Belfast life and an incidental feature of the story but not the driving force.
Overall this is a powerful but essentially by today’s standards a rather dated novel. However many themes are still relevant today.”
About Brian Moore
Brian Moore (1921–1999) was born in Ireland and lived most of his adult life in Canada and the United States. He was the author of many novels, including
,
, and
—all shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize—as well as
,
,
, and
e.
was awarded Canada’s most prestigious book prize, the Governor General’s Award for Fiction.
Other books by Brian Moore
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
