Synopses & Reviews
“Beautiful, devastating and complex.” —Chicago Tribune
The award-winning debut novel from Jennifer Haigh, author of BakerTowers, The Condition, and Faith, tells the story of Birdie, Joan,and Dinah, three women who marry the same charismatic, predatory, and enigmaticopportunist: Ken Kimble. Resonating with emotional intensity and narrativeinnovation reminiscent of Ann Patchetts Bel Canto, Barbara Kingsolvers The Poisonwood Bible, and Zora Neale Hurstons TheirEyes Were Watching God, Haighs Mrs. Kimble is a timeless story ofgrief, passion, heartache, deception, and the complex riddle of love.
Review
"[A] luminous debut....The women are both weak and strong in their own ways, and the ending proves that Kimble may have done some good in spite of himself. A beautiful novel with memorable, vibrant characters that will have wide appeal." Kristine Huntley, Booklist (starred review)
Review
"Haigh is spare and low-key, masterful at delineating the quiet but revealing moment." Judith Maas, The Boston Globe
Review
"This gripping debut novel examines how easily shrewd lies can be mistaken for acts of love." Book Magazine
Synopsis
A chameleon, an enigma, all things to all women -- a lifeline to which powerful needs and nameless longings may be attached -- Ken Kimble is revealed through the eyes of the women he seduces: Birdie, his first wife, struggling to hold herself together after his desertion; second wife, Joan, a lonely, tragic heiress who sees her unknowable husband as her last chance for happiness; and Dinah, a beautiful but damaged woman half his age.
About the Author
Jennifer Haigh is the author of the short story collection News From Heaven and four critically acclaimed novels: Faith, The Condition, Baker Towers and Mrs. Kimble. Her books have won both the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction and the PEN/L.L. Winship Award for work by a New England writer. Her short fiction has been published widely, in The Atlantic, Granta, The Best American Short Stories 2012, and many other publications. She lives in the Boston area.