Saturday, April 4, 2015

Book Review: The Wednesday Group

The Wednesday GroupAuthor: Sylvia True
Publication Date: March 24, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Gail. Hannah. Bridget. Lizzy. Flavia. Each of them has a shameful secret, and each is about to find out that she is not alone… Gail, a prominent Boston judge, keeps receiving letters from her husband’s latest girlfriend, while her husband, a theology professor, claims he’s nine-months sober from sex with grad students. Hannah, a homemaker, catches her husband having sex with a male prostitute in a public restroom. Bridget, a psychiatric nurse at a state hospital, is sure she has a loving, doting spouse, until she learns that he is addicted to chat rooms and match-making websites. Lizzy, a high school teacher, is married to a porn addict, who is withdrawn and uninterested in sex with her. Flavia was working at the Boston Public library when someone brought her an article that stated her husband had been arrested for groping a teenage girl on the subway. He must face court, and Flavia must decide if she wants to stay with him. Finally, Kathryn, the young psychologist running the group, has as much at stake as all of the others.

As the women share never-before-uttered secrets and bond over painful truths, they work on coming to terms with their husbands’ addictions and developing healthy boundaries for themselves. Meanwhile, their outside lives become more and more intertwined, until, finally, a series of events forces each woman to face her own denial, betrayal and uncertain future head-on.

From author Sylvia True comes The Wednesday Group, a captivating, moving novel about friendship, marriage, and the bonds that connect us all.


Hannah slips the card in her purse. The thought of telling random women about Adam’s supposed addiction feels intolerable.

She hates that the man she still loves, who’s only two feel from her, doesn’t reach over to hold her hand and tell her he understand how alone and ashamed and petty he’s made her feel.

But when she glances over his shoulder and sees Alicia smile, she knows that she’s going to have to bend a little more, not for his sake, or hers, but for her children.

When I started reading this book, I never thought it would be something that I literally could not put down. The story centers on a group of women that are all married to men who are sex addicts; they join a group led by a young undergraduate student in order to discuss their frustrations and seek some help and comfort from others who face the same thing daily. These women each lead different lives, have different jobs, and their husbands cheat in different ways, but their feelings and brokenness is much the same. I was completely enraptured by their stories and found myself up until ungodly hours finishing this book. This must have been a complicated and touchy issue to write about, but Sylvia True really pens the stories of these women in a classy and tasteful manner. I was utterly shocked at how much I loved this book!

The story switches back and forth between looking at the women’s lives individually and then allowing readers to share in on the therapy sessions with them when they are all in one room together. I can only imagine how hard it must be to create five completely different women, give them different stories and personalities and make them all feel so real. I commend True on a job well done in every aspect. If you are skeptical of the topic of this book, please do not feel as if you are going to be reading about sex and some explicit sex scenes. This is not at all what this book focuses on, but more about betrayal and dealing with life after the betrayal knocks you down. Excellent debut novel that you should definitely pick up if you get the chance!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at St. Martin’s Griffin in exchange for my honest review***




1 comment:

  1. I find the idea very original, a support group for betrayed women :) Amazing!
    I'm glad you enjoyed it.
    Great review

    Ruty @Reading...Dreaming

    ReplyDelete