Author: Fiona Higgins
ISBN: 978-1-74331-026-7
RRP: $29.99
Wife On The Run is so completely relatable that I found myself drawn further and further into the narrative and didn’t want to put it down. I think everyone in a long term monogamous relationship is going to find something in this book that speaks to them.
Paula and Hamish have been married 17 years and life has settled into a comfortable rhythm, or so it seems. Technology bursts the family bubble in a spectacular way. First comes the Facebook scandal featuring their fourteen year old daughter, a situation that is the stuff of nightmares for any parent of teens. Soon after, Hamish has a bicycle accident resulting in hospitalisation and another technological disaster being uncovered.
Hamish and Paula are approaching 40, have teenaged children and have been together almost half of their lives. I am at a time in my life where I can relate to much of that so I found that I could identify with Paula and her situation a little, I could understand some of what is going on in her head at times.
As newlyweds Hamish and Paula had such big plans for the way they envisaged their life together. The scrapbook of holiday destinations, the early morning runs and exercise sessions together of the early years of their relationship, and the healthy libidos they shared. The years rolled on, the kids came along and these things started to fall by the wayside.
Paula threw herself into domesticity and motherhood, making the children her number one priority and not putting as much effort into the marriage as she had beforehand. The children were less than two years apart so the early days were extremely full on. She ran the household, ran the kids around and by the time of the technological disasters was back working part time.
Overwhelmed by the sudden crashing down of her world Paula decides to take some much needed time out and head off on her long dreamed of trip around Australia, without Hamish. She packs up the caravan, the kids and her dad and off they go leaving Hamish recuperating in the hospital.
Wife On The Run is told from both viewpoints so though we get inside Paula’s rage and heartbreak we also get inside Hamish’s head to see how things escalated.
Paula’s time on the road gives her a lot of time for reflection and it forces an end to the precision routine and planning. It means she finally starts to sit back and relax a little, learns to go with the flow. Time to relax often means time to think and leads to self evaluation and this can be a good thing.
This trip ends up teaching everyone some very valuable life lessons as Paula’s dad, Sid, decides that the time away from school doesn’t mean the children should have a break from education and starts them on his life lessons. They spend their time learning independence – cooking, cleaning and socialisation without the benefit of technology.
I did find there to be a bit of predictability in the storyline but a couple of unexpected twists at the end added a new layer to the narrative. Following the storyline I thought I knew where it was going and how it would end but Higgins had some surprises in store which took me a while to fully appreciate.
Seventeen years is a long time to be married and it is easy to fall into a routine of convenience even when it isn’t what you necessarily want. You spend so long together that you take it for granted, you take each other for granted, without even realising it. Life has a rhythm to it and it seems that no-one wants to rock the boat but without great communication who can ever know what’s going on in their partner’s head.
Hamish behaved badly, and managed to justify it to himself, there is no denying that. I found it very difficult to be sympathetic to him and I often wondered if he would have been able to justify it so easily had the shoe been on the other foot. As we saw him take off cross country to track down his family he would begin to redeem himself and then do something stupid to ruin it. All very realistic and I could certainly relate his actions and justifications to people that I know, though thankfully not my husband.
A long term relationship can see you lose a little of your individuality and identity, not always by any means but it’s definitely possible, and that is what happened here but the routine flowed ever forward so that it wasn’t noticed until the crash. Wife On The Run is Paula’s journey back to herself. It was a story that I thoroughly enjoyed and I have to admit that it did make me sit back and think about my relationship a little.
A book that I will be recommending to anyone who enjoys a contemporary read and will have me on the lookout for more by Fiona Higgins.
You can also follow Fiona on her Website and Facebook.
A selection of our lucky readers will be reading Wife On The Run as part of the Beauty and Lace Book Club so I will be interested to see what they have to say about the book.
Please be advised that there may be spoilers contained in the comments below.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
Well I just finished this book and I have to say, it really blind sided me. Looking at the cover and reading the blurb I felt I was in for a so and so read. Once I started reading, I was really surprised. It was a great emotional roller coaster. I started off disliking Paula because of how Hamish was feeling but then started to feel the same towards Hamish with all the dumb things he was doing. It was so good that it wasn’t just a boring, consertive, middle age reader type book. It was fresh and very much written in modern terms (some may find that confronting I guess). I felt the story was rather far fetched though but good books aren’t always meant to be realistic. I liked where the book took me and was sad when it ended. I liked how the book ended as it would of felt wrong if it was the typical happy ending. Overall, I would give this book a 9/10 and will read Fionna’s other book. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
Thanks for the opportunity to review ‘Wife on the Run’.
Like most good books, this one got me in straight away. Although I am hoping never to have to deal with social media scandals such as this, it is only more probable as each year passes and with two young girls I can only imagine!! Also, I grew up in the eastern suburbs and therefore the setting felt very familiar to me.
The characters were well developed I thought, although not all likeable or relatable. One of my favourite parts of the book was the armchair travelogue, not that dissimilar from a lap of the country my husband and I plan on taking our kids on in a couple more years. Again, hopefully fewer dramas on our version! I really enjoyed following the family dynamics and seeing everyone grow and develop with their experiences on the road.
Another quality which I always enjoy in a book is an unexpected twist, which this novel certainly delivers. But importantly, the ending was somewhat believable and thankfully not a stereotypical fairy tale ending.
Overall, this was a great read and one I would recommend to my friends. It raises a number of important topics and poses questions to ponder. There is nothing better than a well written novel by a local Australian author. I really enjoyed the read and am very appreciative of the opportunity. Thanks Fiona Higgins and Beauty and Lace!
I really enjoyed this novel. Paula is at a bit of a cross road in her life – in middle age, she’s starting to realise that her marriage isn’t all she hoped, her children are growing up enough to challenge her role as nurturer, and she’s noticing how little else she has in her life. A crisis causes her to do what we’ve all dreamed of sometimes – run away!
The biggest strength of this novel is that there’s a little bit of all of us in Paula – unsure about choices made in the past, fearful of some aspects of the future, not entirely sure she’s happy with her life. We’ve all been there, even if only briefly. And although her “run away” solution isn’t one most of us could seriously take on, her self exploration and serious re-thinking of everything she’s been taking for granted is. This is realistic and fascinating.
A lot of people will empathise with Paula. Some of her adventures on the road are perhaps a little far out, but much of it will strike a chord with people. I enjoyed sharing her journey, and having a bit of a think about my own choices along the way. Highly recommended – vivid characters, an interesting story, and some honest examination ofchoices, parenthood and marriage.
I loved it – and this was no surprise because I loved ‘The Mothers’ group” too. Fiona Higgins knows how to keep us guessing what could / will happen next. I loved the trip around Australia and the adventures they had on the way – including the life lessons that Grandad though up for the children. So important in life and sometimes forgotten to be taught to our children. The use of Technology and the changing of habits during the story was well thought out. I can see we cannot totally dismiss it – but it is nice to put it away and talk and to realise that it can get you into trouble.
I was waiting for the twist at the end but didn’t make the correct guess so I thank Fiona Higgins for challenging me with that.
I loved all of the characters – Grandad in particular. I think he would have made an excellent travelling partner and what a great way to bond the 3 generations.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and give feedback – will certainly be recommending it to everyone.
Oh my goodness. I really, really, really enjoyed reading this book and found that everytime I had to put it down i would keep thinking about it and wanting to get back to it.
I loved the fact that its told from both sides so you see what Paula thinks and how she feels and then you also see how her husband feels and reacts.
Its interesting how Hamish convinces himself that what he gets up to on the internet is ok because its not really cheating. Interesting that someone can say something is ok when they wouldnt be happy if it was their partner doing the exact same thing. Reading this book lead me to discuss these things with others and I found I talked about the book often and read bit and pieces from it for discussion.
I very much love this book and would suggest it as a great Summer read. Perhaps not something that I would feel comfortable reading on a bus or plane as there are parts that are x rated and if I had a little old lady next to me that might glance over and see what i was reading it would make me uncomfortable but a great poolside book.
I loved Paula and her kids and I liked Hamish also but couldnt bush aside what he did as being ok.
I suggest you give it a read and see what you think.
Wife on the run….. Who has never thought of doing this?
The book was a little risqué but I think it needed to be to get the actual feeling of being free and finding herself. This book was confronting in terms of a long term relationship with kids, social media an technology. This book explored the “what would you do, if it happened to you” theory….. Very easy to read and understand the emotions of a wife at the bitter end. A very good read with different perspectives and the emotions felt. Well worth the time to read.
Wife on the Run:= interesting read.
While I enjoyed reading the book and it was well put and extremely descriptive,- sometimes to the point where I didn’t think it was necessary, there were times that I thought, perhaps that not what normally would happen.
I also found myself a little bit jealous of Paula, in the fact that she could escape her “troubles” but again I didn’t think that was quite the reaction most people would take.
The flow of the book worked really well, it didn’t jump around and I didn’t get lost at all, I enjoyed different perspectives of the characters and like I already mentioned, descriptive! Loved Sid, thought he was a most inventive character and written extremely well. Not too much, just enough to get an insight into him.
All in all thankyou for the letting me read Wife on the run, I just wont be passing this one onto my 15 year old daughter to read. 🙂
Cheers Katrina
This was such a beautiful book to read, after all who doesn’t love a happy ever after. Fiona Higgins really captured her characters especially Paula and bought them to life on paper. I think as a mum, we all have a bit of Paula in us making this book easy to relate to. Speaking from experience it is easy to forget that we are not just mothers and that there is life for us outside the walls of our home, and not just school runs, cleaning and cooking.
Grandpa Sid was a much needed to character in the book as it prompted Paula to relax and become not just a mother but a person. I also loved Frank and I must admit I giggled out loud when I read about Hamish swimming in Croc territory
.
I’m glad that Paula took the courage to leave Hamish in the end however the ending was just a little too unrealistic with Sid handing over all his winnings. It just didn’t jibe with me that that would ever actually happen and that Hamish wouldn’t lay claim even after the divorce was final.
I would gladly read more novels from Fiona Higgins, in fact I plan to track down a copy of Mothers group for my next read.
Thank you for giving me the chance to read this book.
This book didn’t completely grab me in at first but as I kept going it suddenly seemed to draw me in and hold me there.
I think it was about the time they left on their caravan holiday that the book started to change style and bring a bit of fun into the story.
The travels begin and it made me laugh as I remembered the caravan holidays we went on every year as a kid. (I wondered if the author did too).
Sid being the Casanova in the family was such a fun read as none of us think of our fathers are like that but they are only human too.
The bond that the children develop with their mum is such a real story line on its own that it does make you stop and think of how much closer parents and children could be without the distraction of technology.
The people they met along the way in their journey from Melbourne to Darwin were a great mix of fun and realistic people. I’m sure there is a real life Brenda, Linda and Rhonda out there somewhere.
This book had me laughing along at the fun adventures and loving the bond between father and daughter and grandfather and grandchildren. It was lovely to see a story show their strengths and their weaknesses.
Marcelo was a great character and it was a very interesting way to have the story of his end. When I got to the end of the book I laughed and thought how the way it turned out that that would be my luck too. lol
In the end I really loved this story and would recommend it to anyone. It is a beautiful Aussie story and you will fall in love with the family and admire Paula’s strength.
Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.
I found Wife on the Run a truly entertaining read from start to finish. I loved the storyline because it is a fantasy many women occasionally dream of even if only for a second or two. It is a contemporary story with issues, such as, facebook cyber bullying that many can relate to. Living in a world run by technology I can only dream of the no technology rule for my children.
I admired Paula for having the courage and strength to break free and grandpa Sid for proving that senior citizens can have just as much fun if not more than the young ones. The charming story explored family relationships in an entertaining way that made me chuckle.
I definitely recommend this great novel that takes you on a unique journey around Australia with inspiring characters and adventures around every corner.