2005-02-16 Unconvincing

The book centres on 3 women who live in middle class suburbia. Of the three women, one Amanda can't have kids - she and her husband have been trying for six years with no joy. Then there's Karen whose marriage is falling apart with a cheating husband. Then there's the other one - forgot her name as she hardly features, but she has a 'stay at home husband'. All three women are fast friends. There is a fourth woman, whose recently been widowed. Her husband was much older than her leading to her being labelled as a gold digger (she's very attractive). Anyway, so the widow, Gretchen gets pregnant shortly after her husband dies leaving the rest of the women to speculate as to whom the father of her baby is. Slowly the three women previously mentioned start to think each of their husbands fathered Gretchen's baby. This is where the story just doesn't work. Why would you immediately suspect your husband of cheating just because the woman next door is pregnant? what if she wasn't pregnant, would the women still have suspected their husband? On top of that, the father could be anyone. Just because the three other women haven't seen Gretchen with a man doesn't mean she hasn't been sleeping with someone other than their husbands. The suspicion of the three wives is what Barbara uses to hold this story together and I'm afraid for me, it just didn't work.