I wouldn't normally have read this because I did not like The Handmaid's Tale at all, but I was curious about the "secret society of wives." Worse than the Handmaid's comparison though was the book blurb which read, "Beautiful, cultured Gabrielle lives and works at a house of courtesans." Once again we have a female writer who is reducing her main character to skin depth, championing her beauty like that's the only thing a woman has to offer. Oh, and 'culture' as an afterthought. Given how truly lousy book descriptions are, I was hoping for better in the novel - a very short novella, as it happens - but I was disappointed. And it wasn't because of the amusing error in the text at one point where I read, "Eventually she doses off with the candle still burning." I assume the author meant 'dozes'.
The story seems not to have any overall plot and to be just an idea for a novel which was sketched out by the author and then without any further effort, was released as a novella. It's really the middle of a story - with the beginning and ending missing and that was part of the problem. The other part was that it really wasn't very interesting. The story jumps around between women, but it doesn't stay with any of them long enough to get to know them, and frankly I'm not sure I would have liked any of them even had I the chance to get to know them better, so that really was no big loss, I guess. The 'secret society' barely plays a part, so that was a bust, and overall, the story itself felt drab and not remotely engaging. I can't commend it.
