• I'm looking for books (fiction) which portray women who stay in unhappy marriages, a la Bridges of Madison County style. A list of 5-6 fiction books of this genre would be greatly appreciated.


  • Hello babybrain1-ga,

    Are you looking for books about any particular country or time period? Are you looking for stories where the woman could leave if she wanted to or ones where she is compelled to stay because of social, cultural, legal restraints? The more you can tell me about your project, the more likely I will be able to get you the information you need. Thanks.
    ~ czh ~


  • Some research went into this answer, but I don't think it's what I was looking for. I wanted books about women who stayed in unhappy marriages and did not leave or get divorced; most of these books seem to be about women who leave. Granted, I haven't read them yet--I'm just judging by the summaries given--the books could be different than the summaries seem to say.


  • I?m hoping I can get a refund regarding question ID 550619. I was looking for books (fiction) about women who stay in unhappy marriages. All of the answers given except one, perhaps, are about women who leave unhappy marriages or women who stay in happy marriages. I specifically asked about women staying in unhappy marriages.


  • Hello babybrain1-ga,

    It's too bad you weren't familiar with the Clarification option before you closed and rated the question. I'm sure landog-ga would have been happy to keep working on your question until you got a complete answer that met your needs. As a new user it might be helpful for you to review the Google Answers FAQs so you can enhance your GA experience in the future.
    http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html
    http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html#clarifyquestion
    http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html#furtherclarification


    Hope to see you again soon.

    ~ czh ~


  • Hi,
    Thanks for your query. I can suggest the following books:

    "The Gates of Paradise" Cravens Gwyneth
    =========================================
    Cravens's fascinating novel is an honest portrayal of one long day in the life of the Reverend Melpomene Gilman and her husband, James. They both suppress the desire to be reunited with former lovers, only to discover to their anguish that they both want the same thing.

    "The Wedding" by Nicholas Sparks
    ==================================
    Wilson and Jane have raised three children and lived a satisfying and prosperous life in the bucolic town of New Bern, N.C. After forgetting his anniversary, Wilson realizes that the passion and romance have gone out of his marriage and fears his wife no longer loves him.

    "When the Women Come Out to Dance" by Elmore Leonard
    =====================================================
    When the Women Come Out to Dance, is a collection of short sketches that feature strong female characters in trouble. "Sparks" describes a flirtation between an insurance investigator and a widow who has apparently burned down her own mansion in the Hollywood hills. The riveting title piece involves a rich Pakistani surgeon's wife, a former stripper who's terrified that her playboy husband will have her killed once he gets bored with her. Hoping to knock him off first, she hires as a maid a Colombian woman rumored to have murdered her own abusive husband.

    "A Woman Scorned" by Malcolm MacDonald
    =======================================
    Certainly Judith Carty, middle-class friend to the aristocratic Bellingham family, is not one to suffer scorn or any other adversity; it is she who saves Rick Belling-ham's life by throwing herself on one of the assassins who invade a birthday celebration and kill patriarch Col. Bellingham as the novel opens in 1881. Six years later, Judith returns to Castle Moore, the Bellingham family estate, as a rich young woman; her father has made his fortune as an inventor in Dublin. She finds Rick's sister Henrietta unhappily married to an officer stationed in India, and engaged in a passionate affair with an old friend.

    "The Starter Wife" by Gigi Levangie Grazer
    ===========================================
    Gracie Pollock should have suspected that her movie executive husband, Kenny, was cheating on her when he began to wear the earring. But she missed the clues, and at the age of 41 -- which makes her, as a Hollywood woman, almost assisted-living-ready -- Kenny dumps her via cell phone, weeks before their pre-nup would have expired.

    "After Moondog" by Jane Shapiro
    ================================
    The knowing and ironic narrative spans 25 years, opening with a prologue in which narrator Joanne Green meets William, the man she will marry. It is 1965; they are both talking to Moondog, the New York street character who wore a Viking helmet and stood on the corner of 54th Street and the Avenue of the Americas for many years. Recalling the moment, Joanne says, "I was 20 . . . still easily, routinely stunned by the beauty of the known world." The 17 chapters that follow work as connected but discrete stories that take Joanne and William from the chaos and concentrated anger of the Vietnam era to the cynicism and emptiness of the Reagan years. Out of a marriage built on "supervening inordinate love" come two appealing children and a suburban life supported by William's law practice. But infidelities poison the air, and a divorce becomes sadly inevitable.

    "Animal Acts" by Lerman Rhoda
    ===============================
    Linda Morris feels trapped by her life as a Long Island suburban housewife with a lover tucked away in Ireland. When she impulsively leaves her husband one night, Linda is astonished to discover that she's acquired a rather odd traveling companion: an elderly, asthmatic gorilla. Unfortunately, the gorilla kills a man while she watches. What follows is an unusual plot that alternates between Linda's introspective search for her primordial self and a fast-paced action novel. Linda tries to save the gorilla, Moses, from death at the hands of a number of adversaries. Readers must pay close attention to narration that moves imperceptibly between reality and Linda's imagination, as when she conjures up scenarios for her husband's funeral.

    "As Good as It Gets" Greger Judith
    ====================================
    The author follows Ted and Hallie Bennett through 40 years of marriage, during which both partners make compromises as they raise children, deal with their separate careers, and relocate across the country. When a major midlife crisis prompts Ted to have a brief affair, the couple consider divorce. They ultimately affirm their strong commitment to the marriage, but this positive, hopeful conclusion is achieved only after much serious soul-searching. The characters come alive in this fast-paced modern novel.

    "Brilliant Divorces" Singer June
    ==================================
    Beautiful, affectionate Nora Hall rises from the pubs of World War II London to a position of power in Hollywood in this fluffy but readable novel. Nora, who is married and widowed or divorced several times, is always searching futilely for the kind of true love she herself has to offer.

    "By the Book" Malone Susan Mary
    ==================================
    Malone's first novel tells the story of Nettie Rhodes, a housewife who is abused by her husband and subjugated into submission by her religion. Her only friend is her sister, a liberated member of NOW. By listening to her sister, Nettie undergoes a gradual transformation from a timid housewife into a self-aware, enlightened individual. Her story is interesting, but, unfortunately, not quite believable. After 17 years telling her how to clean the house and beating her for imagined slights, her husband hardly says a word when she finally leaves him.

    "Double Fault" Shriver Lionel
    ==============================
    A marriage wrecked on the shoals of ambition is the theme of Shriver's intriguing sixth novel (The Female of the Species, LJ 2/15/87). When 23-year-old Willy Novinsky meets and marries Eric Oberdorfer, she's a rising professional tennis star and he's a Princeton graduate who just plays for the love of the game. As Eric's tennis prowess increases and his ranking in the men's professional circuit rises, Willy suffers an injury and then a loss of confidence, both of which cause her rankings to plummet. Willy must decide whether her love for her husband is greater than her desire for a number-one ranking in women's tennis and how much she will sacrifice to achieve her goal.

    "The Flaming Corsage" Kennedy William
    ========================================
    This novel focuses on the troubled marriage between Edward Daugherty, an ambitious playwright born of Irish working-class parents, and Katrina Taylor, the strong-willed daughter of an Albany aristocrat. Social backgrounds aside, there simmers constantly within and beneath these two an even greater struggle-the one that pits passion against propriety. As we discover, it is a battle that can and often does destroy the soul.

    Reviews and titles can be found here:
    http://reviews.libraryjournal.com (need to register)
    http://www.amazon.com
    http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ or http://www.bn.com


  • Hi there,,,
    I saw a DVD recently that fits your profile...
    The DVD was named "The Horse Whisperer", and starred Robert Redford. The leading lady in the story, who is in unhappy marriage, comes to R.Redford's character so he can do therapy on their traumatized riding horse and 12 yr
    old daughter following a bad accident. I think the movie was based on a
    novel but cant remember the name of it..