The Mad Wife
- Judith D Collins
- Aug 27
- 15 min read
By: Meagan Church
Narrator: Susan Bennett
Recorded Books
ISBN: 978-1464252556
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: 09/30/2025
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
With odes of The Bell Jar comes a searing historical suspense following a 1950s housewife who, when a mysterious new wife moves across the way, begins to unearth dark secrets about her neighborhood and her own mind.
In the 1950s, nothing is valued more than conformity, and Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the ideal housewife. But after the birth of her daughter, Lulu's carefully constructed life begins to teeter.
Exhausted by expectations and haunted by tragic memories, Lulu looks to her new neighbor, Bitsy. Bitsy, always the model of a perfect housewife, is not quite what she seems and Lulu knows something dark lurks beneath Bitsy's constant smile. Increasingly fixated on Bitsy and her perfectly crafted life, Lulu's mental state begins to fracture, and memories she had suppressed long ago begin to rise to the surface. Soon, Lulu is forced to confront the possibility that she might be headed down a path much darker than she could ever foresee.
Set against the backdrop of a post-war era defined by tradition and constrained femininity, The Mad Wife weaves together a coming-of-age search for identity with a psychological drama so poignant, you won't be able to put it down.
Meagan's Books
author of emotionally-charged, thought-provoking, empathy-inducing stories
About the Author
Author. Wordsmith. Storyteller.
Meagan Church is the Southern indie bestselling author of The Girls We Sent Away, The Last Carolina Girl and the forthcoming The Mad Wife. She writes to tell grounded stories that explore the complexity of human nature. Her historical fiction chronicles the plight and fight of unheard voices of the past. After receiving a B.A. in English from Indiana University, Meagan built a career as a storyteller and freelance writer for brands, blogs, and organizations. She is an adjunct for Drexel University’s MFA in creative writing program, and helps authors tell their own stories through editing, coaching, and workshops.
A Midwesterner by birth, she now lives in North Carolina with her high school sweetheart, three children and a plethora of pets.
Connect with Meagan
Praise
"In a quietly devastating wink-and-nod to The Bell Jar, set firmly in thriller and suspense territory, Meagan Church delivers a piercing portrait of a young mother unraveling in the grip of 1950s suburbia, where Jell-O molds collapse, dishwashers invade, and card games with neighbors turn into emotional battlefields. With razor-sharp insight and aching lyricism, The Mad Wife traces a woman’s descent through sleepless nights, domestic disillusionment, and buried guilt, capturing a haunting tension between what is said, seen, and silently endured until she no longer can."
― Lee Kravetz, The Last Confessions of Sylvia P.
"I devoured The Mad Wife, bite by savory bite. Church's novel expertly captures the paradox of being a 'perfect' housewife in the 1950s, all while drawing a subtle parallel to the plight of the 'ideal' woman today. The suspenseful unraveling of women's secrets--not to mention, their minds--kept me turning pages late into the night"
― Kristen Bird, USA Today bestselling author of Watch It Burn
"The Mad Wife is a propulsive story of motherhood, societal expectations, mental health, and resilience that is set during a time when women were often misunderstood and underserved. It’s a book that does what I love best about historical fiction―illuminates a unique time and place that is new to me while exploring universal themes that hit close to home. A must-read for women of all ages."
― Adele Myers, author of The Tobacco Wives
"A vivid novel that deftly places you into the mind of a seemingly normal 1950s housewife, exposing the demands of motherhood and societal exceptions, while at the same time unraveling a tale of mystery and unexpected sorrow. A surprising narrative so cleverly crafted you never see the twist coming."
― Serena Burdick, author of The Girls with No Names and A Promise to Arlette
"The Mad Wife is a gripping and heart-wrenching portrait of a 1950s housewife at her wits end, struggling with the alienation and claustrophobia of midcentury suburban life. In this one-sitting read, Church offers unforgettable characters, a beautiful window into life in the Fifties, and a stirring tribute to the strength of women. This should be at the top of every book club’s list this fall." ― Ashley Winstead, USA Today-bestselling author of This Book Will Bury Me
"Once again, Meagan Church deftly lights a dark corner of the past. At its heart, this story is an unflinching and evocative portrait of a woman―a wife and mother with a carefully crafted life―gradually losing herself and seeking a way back. Powerful and achingly real, The Mad Wife will linger with you long after the last page."
― Kelly Mustian, author of The River Knows Your Name and The Girls in the Stilt House
"Meagan Church’s The Mad Wife, is a story that is both historical and pointedly of-the-moment when the old adages assigned to hysterical women abound yet again. With an unflinching eye, Church shines a light on the sorrows, secrets and shames lurking behind the carefully curated lives of 1950s wives and mothers―and the quick and terrible consequences of so-called cures for what ails them. Lulu Mayfield is a courageous character whose important story will speak to mad women everywhere."
― Kimberly Brock, award winning author of The Fabled Earth
"In a world where a woman can attain local fame for her Jello salads, what wife dares to complain that a dishwasher isn’t the gift of her dreams? A rigid version of suburban propriety haunts the women of The Mad Wife, with their private griefs and their public smiles. But just when you think you know exactly what’s going on, Meagan Church slips the area rug out from under you, and tumbles you into a new understanding of the ways love can surprise you."
― Mimi Herman, author of The Kudzu Queen
"A gripping portrait of 1950s suburbia with a sinister undercurrent, this novel peels back the manicured lawns and perfect smiles to reveal the secrets we bury―and the strength it takes to unearth them. A haunting, hopeful tale of resilience, reckoning, and the redemptive power of truth."
― Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Amalfi Curse
Exceptional Authors.
Standout Books. Elevator Talk.
INTRIGUING QUESTIONS. INQUIRING READERS WANT TO KNOW.
Behind the Book & Author
Behind the Book
Welcome back, Meagan. We are excited to dive into your latest masterpiece, The Mad Wife!
MC: Thank you so much for asking me back. I always love your questions!
Q. Give us your best ELEVATOR PITCH for THE MAD WIFE.
MC: What happens when a 1950s housewife, trapped in a life as artificial as her Jell-O salads, fixates on uncovering her perfect neighbor’s secret—only to discover a darker truth about herself?
Set in an era when hysteria was a blanket diagnosis that often silenced women’s voices, The Mad Wife is an immersive exploration of motherhood, mental health, and the myth of perfection. It questions the lives we build…and the lies we live.
Q. DESCRIBE your novel in three words or less.
MC: Immersive, evocative, slow-burn
Q. GENRE: Meagan, you tell honest, thought-provoking, immersive stories with truth and nuance and often this means looking closely at the dark corners of our history and exploring women in a historical context, even though it may be uncomfortable but essential.
• In The Last Carolina Girl, it was eugenics and forced sterilization. Leah, an ordinary teen trying to find a safe home while fighting for her future in an era of forced sterilization.
• In The Girls We Sent Away, it was maternity homes and the forced choices. Lorraine wants to graduate from high school and become an astronaut, but society has other plans after she becomes pregnant out of wedlock.
• In your latest, The Mad Wife you explore hysteria, societal expectations, motherhood, and the silencing of women’s suffering. Lulu, a suburban housewife who lives out the ghost story of the women whose mental and physical health suffered when their voices and experiences were silenced instead of being heard and understood.
What continues to draw you to this genre?
MC: I fell into historical fiction by accident. Above all, I like to write character-driven narratives and it just so happens that these first three fall into historical timelines. But what has drawn me to all three of these topics is a combination of fascination and frustration. As I fell into rabbit holes of research on practices that affected women in our not-so-distant past, I began to see through the eyes of a sort of “everywoman” in each era and I wanted to explore what life must’ve been like for an ordinary woman whose life is interrupted by extraordinary pressure.
Q. RESEARCH: Any fascinating research for the novel, or anything you learned along the way?
MC: There was a lot of fascinating stuff, but I would have to say learning about the Lobotomobile was the most astonishing in how it represented nearly a flippant approach to the dangerous practice of lobotomy. In 1952, Dr. Walter Freeman, the creator of the transorbital lobotomy, took the procedure on the road with Operation Ice Pick. For two weeks, he drove around Virginia as part of a state-sponsored initiative. He performed 228 lobotomies out of his van that he named the Lobotomobile. He wanted the procedure to be seen as a cure, and while it could leave patients docile and compliant, some were left in a vegetative or incapacitated state, while others died.
Q. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: What an incredible cast of characters! We love Lulu. Your favorite character to write, and/or most challenging?
MC: Thank you! Lulu was both my favorite character to write and also the most challenging one. It was an interesting experience to write her story because even though she is fictional, she became very real to me. I had moments of feeling like I was seeing through her eyes and she was showing me her story. But other times she became very shy and elusive. Some scenes and chapters flowed out of me in an instant, and others I had to drag onto the page kicking and screaming.
Q. ADAPTATION: For fun, do you have any stars in mind for any of your leading roles for a movie or TV series?
MC: Yes! Lulu – Vanessa Kirby, Henry – Andrew Garfield, Bitsy – Rachel McAdams, Gary – Christian Bale, Norah – Kathryn Hahn
Q. WRITING: Do you have a favorite chapter or scene in the novel you enjoyed writing the most?
MC: Yes! Chapter six that introduces the concept of dormiveglia. (“Dormiveglia are the veiled moments between sleeping and waking, the space in time that floats instead of hurries—a reprieve for some and an unrest for others.”) That came to me complete and very early in the process. It required few revisions over time. To me, this chapter represents the core mood and tone for Lulu’s story.
Late in the process a scene of Lulu catching fireflies in a jar as a child came to me. I remember exactly where I was: sitting in the North Carolina Writers Hall of Fame during my writing residence at Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities. It was over the weekend and the house was completely quiet. Even the ghosts were resting. As the image of the Mason jar with fireflies came to mind, I realized it was the perfect metaphor for Lulu’s experience, while also being a quiet nod to my key source of inspiration, The Bell Jar.
Q. SONG: If your book were a song, what genre and artist would it be? (NOTE: I loved the Billie Eilish reference, “What Was I Made For.” I cannot get it out of my head).
MC: Definitely “What Was I Made For” by Billie Eilish. I truly listened to that song on repeat as I wrote this. According to Spotify, by the end of that year, I was one of Billie’s top fans. The haunting melody, the measured vocals, the melancholic lyrics perfectly encapsulate Lulu and her story.
Q. INFLUENCES: What books, authors, or stories influenced the writing of The Mad Wife?
MC: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, along with her journals; “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; "Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World" by Elinor Cleghorn; "The Lost Daughter" by Elena Ferrante; "The Push" by Ashley Audrain, to name a few.
Q. UPCOMING: Can you share what you are currently working on or what is next in ten words or less (or more)?
MC: It’s still too early to say much, but I’m working on something different. It’s a modern-day story set in the Midwest that asks the question: is a woman in the sandwich generation of her life allowed to have a midlife crisis? We will see where it goes, but it has been refreshing to switch gears and challenge myself in new ways.
Q. Meagan, is there anything else you would like to add that we have not covered today?
MC: I think that covers it. Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful questions and for being such a champion of authors!
Thank you, Meagan! Super great choices for movie cast. Fingers crossed.
Continue reading below for more up close and personal with the author.
Behind the Author
DESCRIBE ONE THING ON YOUR DESK, CURRENTLY?
A small hand-carved soapstone cat. My oldest brought it back from Peru for me earlier this year. Now he’s away for his first year of college. Seeing it there reminds me of him.
WHICH DO YOU ENJOY WRITING MORE: DIALOGUE OR INTERNAL THOUGHTS?
Internal thoughts. I dislike dialogue so much that someday, I’d like to write a novella without any.
DO YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC WHILE WRITING?
Yes. I typically have a playlist to get me into the theme/tone of the book. It plays on the lowest volume possible while I write.
YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT RECEIPE?
Definitely not Lulu’s gelatin salads! ;) Our favorite go-to dessert when we have guests over is Cookie Delight. You bake your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe into ramekins and then top with vanilla ice cream when it’s hot out of the oven. Simple and delicious!
IF YOU COULD CURE ONE DISEASE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Parkinson’s. Both my dad and mother-in-law were diagnosed with it a few years ago. It’s a hell of a disease that I would love to see eradicated sooner rather than later.
ONE BIT OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE AN ASPIRING AUTHOR?
To be a writer, you need to write. That’s it. Write one word, then another, and keep going. With every sentence, paragraph, story you create, you’re learning and growing. Keep going.
WHAT ARE EARLIER JOBS YOU HAD BEFORE BECOMING AN AUTHOR?
I used to be an account manager and copywriter for an advertising agency. Most of our clients were somehow involved in the RV industry. Part of my job was to write marketing copy for things like RV toilets.
HOW HAVE THESE EARLIER JOBS HELPED YOU OR BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN YOUR WRITING CAREER?
Yes. I did not love that job, but it taught me a lot about writing, including how to be efficient with your words for maximum impact. To this day, I am an under writer. My drafts come in short and I have to continue to build them out through various rounds of revisions. I know this is because I was trained to use an economy of words.
WHAT IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS LIKE?
• PLOTTER
• PANTSER
• BOTH
Pantser who attempts to be a plotter, but always goes back to pantsing. I’ve come to use the term “intuitive writer.” Plotting first would result in cleaner first drafts, but my mind thinks an outline is restrictive and prefers the freedom of discovery along the way.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON TODAY?
A different kind of story. Something modern and contemporary, set in the Midwest and with a bit of a humorous edge to it. It’s an interesting change that is both challenging and fulfilling.
FAVORITE WORD?
Right now, sehnsucht. It’s a German word that means “yearning” or “wistfulness,” but goes further to indicate an inconsolable longing for a home that might not have ever existed. I’m exploring this idea in my work-in-progress.
WHAT MAKES YOU ANGRY?
Well, each of my stories began with seeds of anger. First it was the practice of eugenics, then maternity homes, and now hysteria. Overall, what angers me most is the inability or unwillingness to recognize the Imago Dei in every person, and the consequences people suffer because of that.
HAVE YOU EVER CRIED AT A MOVIE?
All. The. Time. The one that gets me the most is “Beautiful Boy.” My kids know they can make me cry in an instant by bringing up this movie. And that’s not an exaggeration. That film perfectly encapsulates unconditional love in such a raw, honest, heartbreaking way.
AN AUTHOR (s) WHO HAS INSPIRED YOU?
Terah Shelton Harris, my book bestie. She inspires me through her beautiful writing and also through our friendship. Whenever I need some encouragement or inspiration, she’s only a text or call away.
SOMETHING YOU WILL NEVER TRY AGAIN?
A failed Jell-O salad I made as an experiment for The Mad Wife. The texture was lumpy and gritty with a bit of slime to it. I regret having tasted it, but it was necessary for the sake of the story. The things we do for our characters!
Thank you, Meagan, for spending time with us today! This has been so much fun.
My Review
Meagan Church, the master Southern storyteller and a favorite author among many, is back with her latest masterpiece, THE MAD WIFE, following the huge success of The Last Carolina Girl and The Girls We Sent Away.
THE MAD WIFE is a psychologically rich, dark, and heartwrenching narrative that delves deep into the human psyche. It’s a thought-provoking blend of domestic suspense and literary fiction, with characters so well-developed that they linger in your mind long after you’ve turned the last page.
About..
1950s suburbia— when the diagnosis of hysteria silenced women’s suffering—Lulu, a housewife haunted by past trauma, becomes obsessed with unraveling the mystery of her seemingly perfect neighbor, Bitsy only to uncover devastating truths about herself, her family, and the fragile line between reality and delusion.
Set in the 1950s, Lulu and her husband, Henry, an architect, have just moved to the neighborhood of Greenwood Estate, the ideal neighborhood for families.
Henry is hopeful for a promotion, and Lulu, always on high alert, is expected to entertain at a moment’s notice. This era, with its stringent societal expectations, forms the backdrop of Lulu’s story.
Despite the tragic memories that haunt her and the weight of exhausting expectations, Lulu keeps her husband happy, her household running, and her gelatin salads the talk of the neighborhood. But after she gives birth to her second child, Lulu’s carefully crafted life begins to unravel, exposing the challenges faced by women in maintaining the facade of a perfect housewife.
Lulu’s suspicion of something dark and sinister in her new neighbor’s household leads her to become obsessed with uncovering the truth. This psychological depth of the narrative will keep you on the edge of your seat, with twists, eager to find out what lies behind the perfect smile.
She then questions her own sanity and so does her husband. Will they send her to an aslyum and force a lobotomy (that she suspects is what happened to her neighbor).
There are sorrows, secrets and shames lurking behind the carefully curated lives of 1950s wives and mothers of Greenwood Estates.
In a fight to make her voice heard, understood, and survive this insanity, she must persevere and remain strong to save her life and her family before it is too late.
My thoughts...
THE MAD WIFE is meticulously researched and beautifully written, with lovely metaphors and lyrical prose. The author pulls out all the stops in this dark, intense, and unsettling saga of one woman’s journey.
Nostalgic, reflective, dark, unsettling, powerful, immersive, and haunting!
With wit to balance the darkness, we learn about life in the 1950s, from entertaining, cooking, Jello molds, playing cards, cleaning, fashion, S & H green stamps, photography, dishwashers, organizing, and being the perfect wife and mother, are all stressors to maintaing this ideal picture-perfect wife.
I was born in the early 1950s in North Carolina so all this resonates with me and I spent many a night licking green stamps and dreaming of what we would purchase. (Also Sears, JC Penny, and Montgomery Ward catalogs). My mom worked full-time (clothing designer), yet balanced the demanding household of four with meals, making all our clothes sewing into the wee hours of the morning, and being the picture-perfect wife and mother, dressed, and coiffed hairdos with pearls on Sunday. However she had bad mirane headaches (which of course was misunderstood and later diagnosed as severe allergies and auto-immune issues).
Of course, as children, we do not appreciate our moms and all they do until we become parents ourselves.
Madness is a concept that has long been gendered female in its many forms: insanity, lunacy, hysteria, irrationality, anger, fury. In today’s culture, these terms are used to invalidate women, both implicitly and explicitly, as women regularly villainized, invalidated, and dismissed in their experiences.
At the heart of this issue is an ugly history of villainizing women—a narrative showing women as crazed, passionate, or vengeful, as irrational in their emotions, weak in their physiology, and threatening in their existence—leading to the characterization of the “madwoman.”
From medical misdiagnoses of depression, madness, hysteria, and as far as the horrible lobotomies, this was a scary time for women in a man’s world trying to be heard and understood.
What is frightening is these events are all too relevant in today’s world.
Thank you for telling this story, Meagan. No one could have told it better than in your capable skilled hands. A top book of 2025! Highly recommended. Be sure to check out the author’s note for an extensive list of resources—an ideal pick for book clubs and further discussions.
I’m a massive fan of the author and have read all three books. When you finish one of her books you will be assured to always learn something new in the proess. As always, I look forward to listening to the audiobook narrated by the talented and favorite Susan Bennett.
Interview...
Stay tuned for my #AuthorElevatorSeries QA coming pub date (Sept 30) where we go behind the book and this talented author! Do not miss it. Much to discuss.
Recs...
THE MAD WIFE is for fans of the author and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Madwoman: Black Swan, Midsommar, and Flannery O’Connor. Each of the above works of narrative fiction demonstrates how female madness in fiction is used to test the boundaries of society and culture, outlining how women have been misunderstood.
Also for fans of The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick and readers of Ellen Marie Wiseman, Diane Chamberlain, Terah Shelton Harris, Mary Ellen Taylor, Adriana Allegria, and Dolen Perkins Valdez
Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for providing a print and digital review copy for my honest thoughts.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars +
Pub Date: Sept 30, 2025
Top Book of 2025
PS If you watched the movie THEM, set in the 1950s, that follows a Black family who move from North Carolina (after a woman loses her baby -grieving married with two daughters) to an all-white neighborhood in Los Angeles during the Great Migration, you may be reminded of life in the 50s. Pearls and all. However, this series explores the family’s struggles against both overt racism from their neighbors, racial housing, and malevolent forces within their new home. (however, it is more racial and includes supernatural elements).
