A psychologically riveting novel centered around a woman with no memory, the scientists invested in studying her, and the daughter who longs to understand
Who is Wendy Doe? The woman, found on a Peter Pan Bus to Philadelphia, has no money, no ID, and no memory of who she is, where she was going, or what she might have done. She’s assigned a name and diagnosis by the state: Dissociative fugue, a temporary amnesia that could lift at any moment—or never at all. When Dr. Benjamin Strauss invites her to submit herself for experimental observation at his Meadowlark Institute for Memory Research, she feels like she has no other choice.
To Dr. Strauss, Wendy is a female body, subject to his investigation and control. To Strauss’s ambitious student, Lizzie Epstein, she’s an object of fascination, a mirror of Lizzie’s own desires, and an invitation to wonder: once a woman is untethered from all past and present obligations of womanhood, who is she allowed to become?
To Alice, the daughter she left behind, Wendy Doe is an absence so present it threatens to tear Alice’s world apart. Through their attempts to untangle the mystery of Wendy’s identity—as well as Wendy’s own struggle to construct a new self—Wasserman has crafted a jaw-dropping, multi-voiced journey of discovery, reckoning, and reclamation.
Searing, propulsive, and compassionate, Mother Daughter Widow Wife is an ambitious exploration of selfhood from an expert and enthralling storyteller.
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“An enthralling, gritty, and altogether unpredictable read that holds nothing back…You will be utterly riveted.”
— BuzzFeed
“This examination of how one man in power can abuse the women closest to him delivers the goods.”
— Publishers WeeklyBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Robin Wasserman is the author of Girls on Fire, an NPR and BuzzFeed Best Book of the Year, as well as several bestselling novels for children and young adults. She is a graduate of Harvard College with a master’s degree in the history of science. She lives in Los Angeles, where she writes for television.
Julia Whelan is a novelist, screenwriter, lifelong actor, and multiple award-winning audiobook narrator. She graduated with a degree in English and creative writing from Middlebury College and Oxford University. She is a former child actor who has appeared in multiple films and television shows.
Jenni Barber is a seasoned stage performer who has appeared on Broadway in The Performers and the award-winning The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, as well as numerous off-Broadway productions. In addition to her stage work, she has appeared on television in Elementary, Smash, and Law & Order: SVU, and is the narrator of the Dork Diaries series.
Emily Tremaine is an actress and audiobook narrator. She has acted in several major motion pictures, including The Wolf of Wall Street and Obvious Child, and was one of the narrators featured on the audio version of Chuck Klosterman’s Eating the Dinosaur.