The Other Mrs.

Women writing women characters is not a specifically 21^st-century phenomenon, but contemporary efforts have brought aspects of feminism and feminist writing into the heart of popular fiction. Novels featuring gutsy female leads can be found in various genres, such as fantasy, sci-fi, YA, and psychological thrillers. YA fiction has had standout characters, such as The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen or Divergent’s Beatrice Prior. These female protagonists fight against the oppression of authoritarian governments and the ineptitude of adults within patriarchal and misogynistic settings. The domestic noir is another genre that has given birth to resilient female leads who must solve mysteries and break the silence to protect their families and themselves.

The domestic setting is traditionally a female space in literature. Writers such as Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters show how female resistance and resilience can be infused into this domestic space, even when it exists within a patriarchal society. Women characters can be seen having agency over matters of marriage, education, and social functions like balls. While the domestic spaces of the novel might, at times, trap or limit a woman, they also provide spaces of safety and belonging. Domestic noir subverts these conventions; the home is a place of uncertainty and danger, and the most fundamental relationships—husband and wife or mother and child—can no longer be trusted.

Upon arriving on the island in Maine, Sadie is reluctant to enter the house, and her narration subverts the idea of home as a refuge. She notes, “There’s something off about the house” (13), and when she finally follows her family into the building, it smells “musty,” the furnishings are “dark and dreary,” and the space is “unwelcoming” (13). The street is too quiet, and the house next door becomes the setting for disturbing dreams in which she loses her spatial grounding. Morgan is brutally murdered in her home, reinforcing the prevalence of domestic violence and foreshadowing the reveal that Will is a murderer and abuser. Other dangers in Sadie’s home include surveillance; Will spies on her internet searches from another room, and she herself surveils her children, to the point that Imogen puts a lock on her bedroom door and tells Sadie to stay out. The Other Mrs. paints Sadie as a morally complicated protagonist, preventing her from neatly occupying the stereotypical heroine role and highlighting the way abuse begets abuse.

Both Sadie and Imogen have experienced severe trauma in their lives. Sadie was abused by her stepmother, and Imogen was manipulated by her mother, who forced her to participate in her suicide. These traumas have altered these women, but the text has them overcome this trauma through female solidarity. While Sadie is a vulnerable and insecure character who “outsources” difficult past or present situations to her alters, she is determined to clear her name and save her family, ultimately doing so by aligning with Imogen. For her part, Imogen performs acts of teenage rebellion such as smoking and ditching classes, but she also seeks out the support of the only maternal figure left in her life, her aunt Sadie. Despite Sadie’s desire to focus on solving the murder mystery, she drops what she is doing and immediately meets Imogen in the graveyard in a moment of crisis. While physically fit, Sadie is much smaller and weaker than Will, yet she fights him ferociously in the climactic kitchen scene. Imogen comes to Sadie’s aid not only physically, by hitting Will, but also legally, by recording his confession. Neither could have stopped him alone, but together they succeed, emphasizing the role of solidarity in defeating abusers, especially among women.

The novel’s last entry finds Sadie and all three children on a Californian beach, finally getting to experience their fresh start. Imogen is seen talking and laughing with Otto, the wind blowing through her long hair in her first carefree moment in the book. Her ease in this scene represents her character development and the sort of healing that can take place now that she is safe. Sadie likewise has a new psychiatrist and has begun the process of healing her childhood and marital trauma. Her last thoughts in the novel point to the strength and resilience of her boys, of Imogen, and of herself: “If time can turn something so undesired into something so loved, the same can happen to all of us. The same can happen to me. It’s happening already” (418). These last scenes in therapy acknowledge that a tidy catharsis makes for a satisfying thriller, but it’s not enough to undo the effects that a novel’s worth of violence leaves on its characters. Sadie’s efforts to heal and rebuild her family’s life point to the work required to heal from domestic violence, in real life and in fiction.