Have you ever thought about disappearing? Leaving?  Escaping? Or abandoning your identity, your past—your life?  If we’re honest with ourselves, on some level, I’m sure all of us have "thought" about it at one time or another, but how many of us really meant it? Who would ever think someone would actually go through with such a thing?

Agnes Morales, the protagonist, not only thinks about it.  She does it.  The reader is told upfront about Agnes’ identity change; therefore, the next question becomes "why?"  "Why is she running?"  What dark lies, lie in the trail of her past?  To get the answer readers must first engross themselves in the life of Edith Lutz, which is littered with secrets, lies, betrayal and of course love and sex.  The "why" is eventually exposed, and then you’re left wondering, "Is that really all?"

In her riveting debut novel, A Lost Wife’s Tale, Marion McGilvary gives readers the tantalizing, page turning, engrossing novel that a true book lover longs for.  In this story, which the name rightfully describes, Edith Lutz a.k.a Agnes Morales, the lost soul in this story, is attempting to escape her past life.  As life and luck go, it eventually catches up with her, but not before Edith lands in the Big Apple where she meets Adam Davenport: her employer, soon to be lover. Davenport, a very lonely, rich and recently divorce publisher, lives in a big, empty house and soon comes to find solace, and love, in the person he hires to be his live-in housekeeper.

The surprising twists and turns that lead to Edith disappearing and being found out will not disappoint the reader.  In this novel, Marion brings forth some of her own life experiences to help in the storytelling, which was first birthed in a dream.

Personally, I find Edith’s character to be a very untrustworthy, and—at least for me—somewhat unlikable person.  I like the author’s writing, although I never saw the need for the profanity.