I really do not know how I got through a novel like this one, but I did, hahaha! This was so ostensibly written for a female audience, but something kept me at it in order to find out how it would explain the husband's actions. Unfortunately, there were no answers to my questions. This narrative was unrelentingly from the woman's point of view. Maybe I should expect this as it is one of Oprah's Book Club choices.

The use of words and technical style was very melodramatic. I guess it would have to be because it has a story about the relationship between husband and wife, and the time they spend apart, and what they do in those times that their spouse does not know. This is disturbing to worry about, isn't it? We trust our spouse's fidelity unconditionally. To think that your spouse can actually have a secret life is unthinkable. Yet this novel explores that very premise. The novel tells about the life of a pilot's wife after her husband's shocking death in a plane explosion. She slowly uncovers her husband's totally secret life spent on those long trips abroad. This discovery would of course unravel her own life.

I think this mystery is what keeps the reader on board. If not for this sense of the unknown, this would just be another mushy read. Unfortunately, when the unknown was uncovered, it felt very artificial. The main explanation of the events seems really contrived and unbelievable to happen in real life. It was not enough that it involved this awkward family situation, it even had to include a political angle (that came from out of nowhere).