Spotlight on The Half Wives by Stacia Pelletier

Publication Date: April 4, 2017
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages: 336 Pages
ISBN-10: 0547491166

Genre: Historical Fiction


Over the course of one momentous day, two women who have built their lives around the same man find themselves moving toward an inevitable reckoning.


Former Lutheran minister Henry Plageman is a master secret keeper and a man wracked by grief. He and his wife, Marilyn, tragically lost their young son, Jack, many years ago. But he now has another child—a daughter, eight-year-old Blue—with Lucy, the woman he fell in love with after his marriage collapsed.

The Half Wives follows these interconnected characters on May 22, 1897, the anniversary of Jack’s birth. Marilyn distracts herself with charity work at an orphanage. Henry needs to wrangle his way out of the police station, where he has spent the night for disorderly conduct. Lucy must rescue and rein in the intrepid Blue, who has fallen in a saltwater well. But before long, these four will all be drawn on this day to the same destination: to the city cemetery on the outskirts of San Francisco, to the grave that means so much to all of them. The collision of lives and secrets that follows will leave no one unaltered.

Praise for The Half Wives

“Pelletier’s second novel unfolds a complex story in the span of 24 hours… [The author] expertly fills in the back story—introspection and memories mingle smoothly with the present… Well-crafted characters struggling alone with shared grief furnishes a coursing river on which this intriguing story effortlessly flows. Tough to put down.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The Half Wives is a profoundly hypnotic and mesmerizing work. The characters do not capture you as much as claim you, as the writing—languid, heartbreaking, and hopeful—pulls you deep into their world. The backdrop of Old San Francisco comes gloriously alive, as though the mist of the city itself rose from every page.”—Kathy Hepinstall, author of Blue Asylum and others

“Stacia Pelletier’s The Half Wives is set in the past, but it is a story for any time: a poignant, sometimes heart-rending, beautifully crafted, always gripping tale of loss and love, and the human need to try to set things right. A great read.”—Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd

Buy the Book

 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Kobo

 

 

About the Author

 

 

Stacia Pelletier is the author of Accidents of Providence, which was short-listed for the Townsend Prize in Fiction, and the forthcoming The Half Wives. She earned graduate degrees in religion and historical theology from Emory University in Atlanta. A two-time fellow of the Hambidge Center, located in the mountains of North Georgia, she currently lives in Decatur, Georgia, and works at Emory University’s School of Medicine.

For more information, please visit Stacia Pelletier’s website.

The Half Wives Blog Tour Schedule

Tuesday, April 4

Kick Off at Passages to the Past

Wednesday, April 5

Spotlight at Just One More Chapter

Thursday, April 6

Review & Giveaway at Rainy Day Reviews

Friday, April 7

Spotlight at What Is That Book About

Tuesday, April 11

Review at West Metro Mommy

Friday, April 14
Review & Giveaway at The True Book Addict

Tuesday, April 18

Review at Books, Dreams, Life

Wednesday, April 19

Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Thursday, April 20

Review at A Bookaholic Swede

Monday, April 24

Interview at Author Dianne Ascroft’s Blog

Friday, April 28

Review at Reviews by Room With Books

Tuesday, May 2

Review, Guest Post & Giveaway at Brooke Blogs

Wednesday, May 3

Giveaway at CelticLady’s Reviews

Thursday, May 4

Review at Book Nerd
Review at Clarissa Reads It All
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Friday, May 5

Review at The Lit Bitch
Review at Jorie Loves a Story
Review & Giveaway at Broken Teepee