The Mere Wife: A Novel
Written by Maria Dahvana Headley
Narrated by Susan Bennett
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
"Susan Bennett masterfully narrates a stunning retelling of Beowulf that confronts all manner of monsters...Powerful, upsetting, and unforgettable, Bennett's narration is staggeringly potent." — AudioFile Magazine
New York Times bestselling author Maria Dahvana Headley presents a modern retelling of the literary classic Beowulf, set in American suburbia as two mothers—a housewife and a battle-hardened veteran—fight to protect those they love in The Mere Wife.
From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings—high and gabled—and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside—in lawns and on playgrounds—wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall’s periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights.
For Willa, the wife of Roger Herot (heir of Herot Hall), life moves at a charmingly slow pace. She flits between mommy groups, playdates, cocktail hour, and dinner parties, always with her son, Dylan, in tow. Meanwhile, in a cave in the mountains just beyond the limits of Herot Hall lives Gren, short for Grendel, as well as his mother, Dana, a former soldier who gave birth as if by chance. Dana didn’t want Gren, didn’t plan Gren, and doesn’t know how she got Gren, but when she returned from war, there he was. When Gren, unaware of the borders erected to keep him at bay, ventures into Herot Hall and runs off with Dylan, Dana’s and Willa’s worlds collide.
Maria Dahvana Headley
Maria Dahvana Headley is a New York Times bestselling novelist, memoirist, and editor, most recently of Magonia, Queen of Kings, and the anthology Unnatural Creatures (coeditor with Neil Gaiman). Her short fiction has been nominated for the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards. She lives in Brooklyn in an apartment with a seven-foot stuffed crocodile and constellations on the ceiling. You can find her at www.mariadahvanaheadley.com
More audiobooks from Maria Dahvana Headley
Beowulf: A New Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Mere Wife
Related audiobooks
I Hold a Wolf by the Ears: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything Under: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Body and Other Parties: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unfinished World: And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Palimpsest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost Wall: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deathless Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boy, Snow, Bird Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bone Clocks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Being Dead Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Enchanted: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Toft; or, the Rabbit Queen: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winter Tide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Under the Pendulum Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5salt slow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cartography of Sudden Death: A Tor.Com Original Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elmet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Heads of Cerberus (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flyaway Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starlings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Brief History of the Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Autonomous: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rain Heron: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Harmless Great Thing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Citrus County Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barn 8 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Literary Fiction For You
The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bright Young Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hate U Give Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The It Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Mere Wife
12 ratings0 reviews