Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Imperfect Women: A Novel
    Imperfect Women: A Novel
    Imperfect Women: A Novel
    Ebook376 pages20 hours

    Imperfect Women: A Novel

    By Araminta Hall

    3/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    FROM THE AUTHOR OF OUR KIND OF CRUELTY

    "A stunning, dark novel about who women want to be and the reality of who they are.” —Samantha Downing, author of His Lovely Wife

    "Promises to please those who enjoy psychological thrillers and all those who love Elena Ferrante but wish her series was just a bit (okay, a lot) more twisted." —Molly Odintz, Lit Hub

    "A psychological thriller in the truest sense of the word . . . At points I was folding pages repeatedly.” —Sarah Vaughan, author of Anatomy of a Scandal

    "Creeps on you slowly, like a fog, until you find yourself enveloped in this tangled skein of relationships, eager to see how all this is going to play out, who is going to betray whom and in what way."     —Sarah Lyall, The New York Times Book Review

    When Nancy Hennessy is murdered, she leaves behind two best friends, an adoring husband and daughter, and a secret lover whose identity she took to the grave. Nancy was gorgeous, wealthy, and cherished by those who knew her—from the outside, her life was perfect. But as the investigation into her death flounders and her friends Eleanor and Mary wrestle with their grief, dark details surface that reveal how little they knew their friend, each other, and maybe even themselves.

    A gripping, immersive novel about impossible expectations and secrets that fester and become lethal, Imperfect Women unfolds through the perspectives of three fascinating women. Their enduring, complex friendship is the knot the reader must untangle to answer the question Who killed Nancy?

    Imperfect Women explores guilt and retribution, love and betrayal, and the compromises we make that alter our lives irrevocably. With the wickedly sharp insights and finely tuned suspense that has drawn comparisons to Patricia Highsmith and Paula Hawkins, Araminta Hall returns with another page-turning, thought-provoking tour de force.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateAug 4, 2020
    ISBN9780374718008
    Author

    Araminta Hall

    Araminta Hall has worked as a journalist since 1994 at some of Emap's biggest titles, including Bliss Magazine and New Woman. Since 2000 she has freelanced for a variety of magazines and national newspapers. She lives in Brighton with her husband and three children.

    Related authors

    Related to Imperfect Women

    Related ebooks

    Psychological Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Heavy Heart

      Feb 5, 2022

      Heavy Heart
      6 min read

    • Article

      September’s BOOK CLUB

      Aug 4, 2022

      It’s been a decade since Hannah was at Oxford, yet she’ll never forget it. Her room-mate, April, was killed by one of the university porters. Now he’s dead and Hannah wonders if she helped send an innocent man to prison. But if Hannah digs too deep,

      4 min read

    • Article

      Good Bones

      Mar 19, 2020

      Good Bones
      18 min read

    • Article

      Christopher Pike

      Jan 29, 2020

      Christopher Pike
      2 min read

    • Article

      Now That I’ve Arrived

      Dec 30, 2020

      Now That I’ve Arrived
      5 min read

    • Article

      How To Install Your First Widget

      Feb 9, 2021

      > As you would expect with Apple, the company has made installing widgets in iOS 14 a piece of cake. Your device will come with Apple apps that have their own widgets ready to go, although you might have to launch third-party apps at least once befor

      1 min read

    • Article

      Ann Beattie

      Sep 15, 2017

      I’d started to visit Olivia more often because it was obvious she was lonely. The ALS lady who’d been moved to Hopkins had been Aunt Olivia’s closest friend, leaving aside Merton Hillstead, who actually went home. Even the friendly paperboy who somet

      23 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Chantal V. Johnson

      Dec 2, 2022

      Chantal V. Johnson reflects on 2022 through the books she read. The post A Year in Reading: Chantal V. Johnson appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Shipstead, Ryan, Walker, and More

      May 17, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Maggie Shipstead, Eimer Ryan, Sarai Walker, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The Millio

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Minders

      Oct 7, 2020

      RELEASED OUT NOW! 448 pages | Paperback/ebook/audiobook Author John Marrs Publisher Del Rey John Marrs’s latest near future, high-concept techno-thriller isn’t so much a sequel to The One (DNA dating app has dark secret) and Passengers (autonomous ca

      1 min read

    • Article

      Paul Tremblay

      Jun 17, 2020

      IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF MY BIGGEST FEARS that I would live to see the end of everything,” says Paul Tremblay, speaking to SFX from his Massachusetts home in the middle of lockdown. It’s a singularly peculiar time, and a peculiar interview for him to

      3 min read

    • Article

      On Death Row, There's No Such Thing As Closure

      Aug 2, 2019

      It is August of the year 2000, and I am cold. I know the sun is shining outside, but there are no windows in the courtroom. The lighting is subdued, darker in the back where spectators sit and lighter in the front where tragedies play out—like a the

      5 min read

    • Article

      Book The Good Sister

      Oct 29, 2020

      Laced with her usual quirky humour, sass and darkly charming tone, Australian author Sally Hepworth brings her latest tome – tipped to be her breakout – to shelves. Delivering a knockout novel about the lies that bind two sisters, Hepworth tells the

      1 min read

    • Article

      Musings On My Father

      Aug 8, 2022

      Musings On My Father
      5 min read

    • Article

      Ten Thrillers Based on Real-Life Events

      Mar 17, 2021

      These books works of entertainment, yes, but honorable, thought-provoking, and deeply compelling. The post Ten Thrillers Based on Real-Life Events appeared first on The Millions.

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Girls off the Cliff

      May 6, 2017

      The Girls off the Cliff
      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Imperfect Women

    3/5

    30 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This book is told in three points of view, Nancy, Eleanor and Mary and flips between past and present. They have been best friends since college, and now they are older they are still friends, have shared the highs and lows of their lives with each other.
      One night Nancy leaves Eleanor at a restaurant to tell her secret lover that it’s over, she is found early the next morning....dead!
      Eleanor and Mary are set to find out who the secret lover is and who killed their friend.
      Wow, can I say I really liked this book, I have read other books by Araminta Hall and liked them so I was pleased I like this one too.
      This book has a lot of secrets, lies, suspicion and mystery. I thought early on in the book I knew who murdered Nancy only to be shocked when it finally came out. I was wrong!
      I think the narrator Helen Keeley portrayed these women really well and I was drawn in living in their lives, imagining I was actually there. I was hooked from start to finish.
      If you like suspense this will keep you on the edge of your seat!
      Absolutely brilliant!
    • 2/5
      Nancy, Eleanor and Mary have been best friends since college. All three of them hoped for a perfect life but each of their lives are far from perfect.

      Nancy married her college sweetheart and is now missing that excitement of her youth. Whereas, Eleanor put her career above all else and hasn't looked back, despite her soft spot for Nancy's husband. While, Mary fell pregnant far too young and is now coping with three children and a mentally unwell husband.

      But when Nancy is killed, Eleanor and Mary must align themselves to uncover her killer. And as each of their stories unfold, they realise that there are so many truths that have to be uncovered along the way.

      First of all, the title was perfect! These three women are totally imperfect. The book is written in three parts, from the perspective of each of the friends and is filled with infidelity and grief.

      I really thought I would enjoy it but I did not. The mystery surrounding Nancy’s death was pushed back as a secondary story with more focus given to the lives of each of the women. Sadly, I never connected with any of them and their husbands were just so intolerable.

      So, overall the idea behind the plot was good. But this book was just not for me!

      Thank You to NetGalley and Orion Publishing for this ARC!!
    • 3/5
      Interesting story
    • 3/5
      This novel tells the story of three women who became close friends at university and who remained close, even when they often went stretches without seeing each other. Eleanor is single, living happily in her small flat, just upstairs from an elderly neighbor she adores, running the small non-profit she founded. She does carry a torch for her best friend's husband, but she's fine with how things have turned out, most of the time. Mary fell for her married professor, but now that they're married and she's home with their three kids, he's dismissive and certainly sleeping with other women, until he comes down with a mysterious illness, so that now Mary carries the burden of caring for her children and her husband. And Nancy is the one who gets murdered. This is the second novel of domestic suspense from Araminta Hall, who wrote the excellent Our Kind of Cruelty. This lacks the originality of that debut novel, but it's solid and well-written, if predictable, and manages to celebrate women's friendships rather that pitting them against each other.
    • 4/5
      I gave this four stars at the time of listening, but three weeks later, as I come to write this review, I am struggling to remember the characters and the details of the story. I know I felt it was longer than it needed to be and there was rather a lot of repetition and drinking of cups of tea. I'm wondering if 3 stars might be more accurate.The story centres around three women who met at college. They were all very different and would have been a most unlikely trio under other circumstances. There is a fair bit of back-story, but when we meet them they are 25 years down the line and two of them have husbands and children in tow. Life is pottering along, throwing up its usual complications, until Nancy disappears and is eventually found murdered. There is a lot of blame, guilt and recrimination as each of them narrates their interaction with Nancy and her family.Each of the female characters (including Nancy), has a section of the book, recounting her relationship with the other characters and offering us insights into their side of the story. Although it's listed as a psychological thriller, the structure of the book felt rather chick-lit.I enjoyed the narration by Helen Keeley, she did a great job. I particularly liked her voice for Mary, with it's slight lilt.Thanks to LibraryThing for being one of the few sites where I can give it 3.5 stars!
    • 2/5
      Imperfect Women tells the story of three women approaching 50 – Eleanor, Nancy, Mary -- who have been best friends since university. The setting is this: Nancy tries to end a yearlong affair, and Nancy gets murdered.First we hear from Eleanor, the responsible one. Eleanor is riddled with guilt for having fallen in love with Nancy’s husband Robert after Nancy’s death, especially since she suspects Robert of the murder. Next, we hear from Nancy, the pretty one, who is riddled with guilt for under appreciating her lifelong advantages due to her good looks. In Nancy’s chapter we learn the identity of her lover (which isn’t that hard to guess anyway). Last, we hear from Mary, the scholarly one, who is riddled with guilt for having allowed her husband to ridicule and belittle her for so long that she has become a drip. In this chapter we learn who the murderer is, also not exactly a big reveal. I classify this book as ‘chick-lit noir’, not my cup of tea. Each chapter was very long and somewhat redundant, with each character whining about how miserable life is. The writing itself is not bad, but story is boring.
    • 2/5
      I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.The imperfect women of the title are Nancy, Eleanor and Mary, who met at university and have remained friends for 25 years. Nancy is found murdered, and Eleanor is forced to tell Robert, Nancy's husband, that she was trying to break things off with a lover on the night she died.This was a sad, ugly book, filled with sad, ugly characters. I am approximately the same age and had a similar university experience to the women in this novel and I do not recognize myself or my friends in them, their life choices, or their marriages. I did not believe in their friendship, and there was no warmth in any of the relationships portrayed in the entire book. It became apparent that the women were meant to stand for the experiences of all women, but they very much did not in my opinion.The twist in the middle became inevitable just before it was revealed, which I suppose was good writing, but the twist at the end was obvious and sad, and I hated the ending, both for what it revealed about Nancy's death and for what it suggested the future would hold.I am curious about the ownership of the flat with the ferns...

    Book preview

    Imperfect Women - Araminta Hall

    &kcbook_preview_excerpt.html}˶Ʊ`#gm-*[չJrjYH =Gx?p?_rcL,_OS|x77o?_o~˷C 4|߾.x)6),zi kKЍ_GyGath˜qc'/iZ4אоqZN9tr8Cפ:1ܼ%vM4iʵ'[Ki.zSa'r) yG" ;&eyP*{n47|{ݦcd, I&YaZoxkmv=9ꆜ<44a5M7i)MxQnrWM\yvЏ2rq55om t^CahxS\:erpi56oV͖kTX{ӔMvkړ<\;%ʗfD91;|ѣAdJw0M gҞ8Ѭe#(i*uM(1 {n'//ae/*\( H0%,4xx?u7Yo4AIzs?KLzIV}'{M^(0~թP)0 ]GNFhn'%ɓ1Jju i >5A|UeJ\VςU^Lp@&TϫZc_(!WQ}ҋ(ƉYz+￝Zb.q>Vv)/\fOGEZ%u\dYuNcZ_L,iLm)"WADb+_Mgaˏ(O6(WĐș{.ի 1A\&GE.BT aVnỗ"6̥4al+=./ &&|QobKww]1̩ XV9 2`9F{b Df`wpy"J8PhNuK6~*>( o0 t=? @K%"F=ո| 78;Mm^ngE=H<~ŝWn{ٟ@Pr('9u#+nYU|9Iz(PlX. t<]1*jHá+"(Lgq南ך)EIvl.JrA_MqϞ:uBE"W~y ΄70uDL=̋v[Rj7%N8<ܱ ;%YtV%FkSbn'vbewۋ kNC {[/c8.y]U51yZƲRyR"S+{Fj;3"l#a,GjV ((ϺT,7K. ZuYħ&qrA_x xf3+F<@5_~x dS62:(oV~tRe(C\(A8 |ĨĿӟñz͛qE"Dw)jbȊMJ_b Ѯ`TCA|b[o)":Q Wǚ"bjC86CP`9\ 6[ī DJD~}ZUr+\waQRoN0XSq>/c(G: l4wiQr˜;@ 1؇=x7kOqc0QImY͉We!|'#xV1>$w%\*(8ة&AW8#[Ypq C)ʱɠOw1`'u}d8/7}q4UP.ڋv fka5좬ƉToWibO}t߭!(4Cy;㚮*  ta~3BX#7sR3,g8U4a9H0ǎLGL$vԭ̓C7jZ4vEDޥ9bDu |-A6a)AZkZ r^1>c;r 8j~o=PrǕA9D $H7w4j1?~b> zd DX^ؼA8]\:-bBE D(A(], esxkdad}9K@B N`GHN饢ndWIBYTQNT*gD|,j}yAr9YA(0?X{ԩa#I`,ۉi4` OhxFʫ>Aٖ%֫1 !R(@-B[2L qcF"%ѩTyU#ska=dek}?(Cp2qE[ɷc3QG)m6ln5(wU!VVhc {] >z~9(D${ݪig@7P=}%qHvO%?H`T6S\VVU1@FDOCO.Xҥ5g%'="D"0ʰ:@K?hٿSXUOᬼ$|(d_ΏP9#8>%ˊ'$}Gfqd-5t#B:t%2*>oի]?4?䈉ׇ%NET$"7ۗHܢpQ52=O)~SVR huy?pth*hJ(z΄ִDzr"6C|0 .:&Ad5ճv`\DpN&H|?&C ~71 Ѽ'QJx Y4@+ ' ?" -)RH @fsV+(@aGJDTը+v+ɤ@I-;s/#)X IՋk7-p4Hw,}~|T~Zʻ8iO+@O y8֞ʪMqf* iR9z^w82) SGVn>CI0#QGYe%3r5tKCgS.$Y'B 풯:.ç)/eWi;V&5 5u1X@'.Q>ZRqqk?,͓Uŵlhѷty5ϪW*T.V-^nӶuVƖflNW@8G**TLd%9 ̢u^A3%" Z.&eH>qvre -,gi -Az⡀pc\€qywfo@zw\+4q Bi{l{&#'$M ( FNb5b՘&GWʠ#btOkJ>ð).+GS,SE`%!F0%M?Gdv7fe0oف;pfhA`EcπG(4ÓDޖ :9[狸9Daˬ Vhp[T6E _Dh`m\@Z a*뼊C\tbD9Ћh"33H@ ,4-H0]EadU^% :/ P SskCK9PuFmDmCx`bnCyZ;.YTQmw%0iESsp&vVޠ'VA%}t(oJ{Ʃ8) _|8o?F{fJ'YfK{Xl1Gfu 0ɱVuKhy {^b_O@$`HiKM4gm *_w4 .റU2Du(3rPb1N@HsƒZGCF r)~ZKĸ!-rS6`A|7}U$hY;Kfw?5G~p5^:{5,Òhv̪Tk|.}`k%@{ifi" ikyVv.kVDR4n?v" @EW$x3Y R K*xw]%SF0cˡmXrGtF35L+54ND cgs?H\M6-+4DLphZpwt>g`Aܡá84ωf֕h/ʧ>յJ̌#+mׁQEX0?ReEkSUN+rH 4<6E2ˎS Fm جs4RHLKU٠Q|nGYJWL&?`02S/kH!]qmI|R/[Am\o؈ aHyd?uS "ؕĔdW뀈fPb DPg'|H}[}Նϥi%/w#eiDӳNNtDe=3ςbp8mh>Vզ])i { A7x*U {Cl,7GC~EkMN)%hIz2?x|񍢡𐿭bL[Ł>b)o HUxR"GY˪da]ûŋlй`&a~Ʉm[}F49@ˉw4p%nJ~`dxՙ$4itD᭿H7ZPf^v֤{\U|CċJMrݤd=%9l|vv3N(@8r̐{V*,W,TrWڇ^g%pUUcNQ}bjwV*io{Dž fH 1.5N6veF,ċhu_õnvk)ƻ:QM* d^RiYMiH~Pb*$+A+эUK媝f&qt$>{H0+'Y2("~him"b\]ɜ/<r3sCapӻ#mgͪ*y ]>Փo[5,IzE1b&@aT<ݕ;X1=,8ԡaS)X6-6z*tD\)vܜ6H {Nmm*$5=-NXawi8#`7XIӓB4grJ,jݽ:4 CU+%$X{N+YI[:ʢVwC}^,pWl%x tTZveuFln-\9S^Ȋv #L@֏L5yY=I\3';1c;6>=gmF8Z3JdB{UϠ֥"Kl3_=JqFe Q ݬPr0Qg ܹx8"M k%7BBt06h]z[ZO1}ChB%a?P%I^qHW16"Uʠm?3}fz~G}IP_#sKՇ>֎6 d_.E^bIM5(㴳b!%$e@dBpa5.CZP=GS s5ekk贆<%V|xnr+3܋\`Qe >Ha\z@仦ژ(z[jI{"Nnj52!Kf6FJ!M,,?&3arXyo~ 92sΫ ރ9mJ (ٻb+LK0U+f 9L\Ѹ]4 Y؎3DܹqjyŁJˡ׀Eŀ,%2Jr?C 9ͣah_%r Wlam?]jR ,^[XkحuYˈ&W*a0XO ([8b2šW J+&x2"0a4S,3-<ᭉ%Tj,uvCK3,,dXRTkH&pp@kqg9b9H-TfʒjoqX 8i5e4O)f*EM*`M=&)xpG'`.(O [(O; [$Oq>rzwaz咛m-8 (ԄW[߉l' ,0Z++t yh! º7bk-j)A/J?.sw^ :CV@ʳ>ʣȴ d3?O`d4?Mn {Q:˸4dKF*|z?WyL c%PyاY%kxlNɯNl̅`5˴^!;GO:XTT2'mC:= }`m6[c'dͫ<<"eW<:?ۻr}n1@f?gS~Ȱꦴ╞ԏ u=v:ߧHfL0!`e[tTs+jqqVf._yԖf ZWݮtN%Yr< e*WoclzjÓ>!X׌sYUX<ɳk@+s*ziQEðWIe{LHGDb*}p^^Y#Ǫk[,q%RLqtՄ DcrUwW[*ʃI6CW į]H:,ȷŃɼQN>|˅1In0CفrJCV(Y ۮ-gC+Y'VڐK1lW
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1