The Best Way to Bury Your Husband: A Novel
A dark comedy about four women coming together to heal the damage their husbands have done––and hide their bodies once they’ve killed them
When Sally kills her husband with a cast-iron skillet, she’s more fearful of losing her kids than of disposing of a fresh corpse. That just wouldn’t be fair—not after twenty years of marriage to a truly terrible man. But Sally isn’t the only woman in town reaching the brink. Soon, Sally finds herself leading an extremely unusual self-help group, and among them there are four bodies to hide. Can they all figure out the perfect way to bury their husbands . . . and get away with it?
First to join is former nurse, Ruth, who met her husband as a single mom. Now her son is grown and her husband’s violence builds by the day until an attack on the stairs leads to a fatal accident—for him. A few doors down, Samira’s last straw comes when she discovers her husband is planning a campaign of violence against her eldest daughter, who has just come out. Janey, Sally’s best friend, has just had her first child at forty-two. Sleep-deprived Janey needs a hero to slay the monster in the fairy tales she whispers to her daughter each night . . . and as her husband’s violence escalates, it might just be her.
Together, fueled by righteous anger but tempered by a moral core, the four women must help each other work out a plan to get rid of their husbands for good. Along the way, Sally, Ruth, Samira and Janey rediscover old joys and embark on new passions in work, education, and life. Friendship and laughter really are the best medicine—and so is getting away with murder.
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Community Reviews
In the spirit of total transparency, I knew I was going to read this book as soon as I saw the title and before I read the book summary. I also knew that the reason I was going to read it was because it was most likely going to be about a battered and abused wife who killed her POS abusive hubby. Ahhh…..memories of my marriage to hubby #1 back in my 20’s. The memories of the hours days weeks months I spent devising ways to kill my abusive POS hubby. Alas, I never followed through on any of those plans, but it was very cathartic at the time and got me through until I got the courage to actually walk out the door and leave that horrible man, with the help of some very good friends and amazing women.
Anyway, as the book summary indicates, the story is about four battered and abused wives who kill their abusive husbands and how they got rid of the bodies, with the help of one of the daughters of one of the women. What the book summary doesn’t mention is that the story takes place during the initial pandemic lockdown. This is not a spoiler since it is basically how the story started. So, there are the extra challenges of getting away with murder during a global pandemic. I assure you; it wasn’t as easy as it sounds like it could be.
First, we have Sally, who was in the process of being beaten for having flowers on the table, when in an act of self-defense, grabs a cast iron skillet off the counter and whacks her hubby upside of the head and kills him. Shortly thereafter, Sally meets Ruth when she climbs on top of her backyard fence and catches Ruth attempting to set a bonfire with her dead hubby in it. Ruth’s POS hubby fell over the staircase banister while chasing Ruth up the stairs in order to give her a beating for wanting to go back to work as a nurse. Then Sally and Ruth meet Layla, lugging a rolling suitcase down the street in the middle of the night. The suitcase is stuffed with chopped up parts of Layla’s father. Layla’s mother, Samira, poisoned him because he was going to take Layla back to Pakistan and marry her off to some stranger because it was rumored that Layla was a lesbian. Lastly, Sally’s BFF, Janey, a mother of a newborn, kills her POS, abusive hubby while in the midst of a sleep-deprived, hallucination because she thought the raging beast in the doorway screaming at her and charging her was a monster trying to kill her and her wailing baby.
The rest of the story revolves around the ladies trying to figure out a way to dispose of the bodies without getting caught and leaving all their children orphans. Not only were there lockdown rules and regulations in place (apparently the UK was much stricter about Covid isolation rules and regs), but the ladies also had to deal with a nosybody neighbor, Edwina, who patrolled the street and admonishing anyone and everyone for not following Covid rules and regs.
The character development of the MC’s was very well done, especially Edwina. While it was sad what brought the women together, it was their shared trauma and experiences that connected and bonded them together. The pacing was steady and never seemed to drag, at least not to me, but then I became invested in the storyline from the get-go. The writing was wonderful. While the subject matter is most certainly not wonderful or funny, however, for women in that situation, some days anything that takes you out of yourself that allows you see the joy and humor in the mundane is a welcomed gift. I speak from experience.
Alexia Casale wove humor in so many parts of the story, allowing the women to start laughing again because they had long ago stopped finding life joyful. I especially found the Author’s Notes at the end interesting even if it wasn’t surprising. It should come as no shock that the violence and abuse many women endured before the pandemic, increased exponentially during lockdown. I'm looking at an overall rating of 4.5 that I will be rounding up to a 5star review.
Anyway, as the book summary indicates, the story is about four battered and abused wives who kill their abusive husbands and how they got rid of the bodies, with the help of one of the daughters of one of the women. What the book summary doesn’t mention is that the story takes place during the initial pandemic lockdown. This is not a spoiler since it is basically how the story started. So, there are the extra challenges of getting away with murder during a global pandemic. I assure you; it wasn’t as easy as it sounds like it could be.
First, we have Sally, who was in the process of being beaten for having flowers on the table, when in an act of self-defense, grabs a cast iron skillet off the counter and whacks her hubby upside of the head and kills him. Shortly thereafter, Sally meets Ruth when she climbs on top of her backyard fence and catches Ruth attempting to set a bonfire with her dead hubby in it. Ruth’s POS hubby fell over the staircase banister while chasing Ruth up the stairs in order to give her a beating for wanting to go back to work as a nurse. Then Sally and Ruth meet Layla, lugging a rolling suitcase down the street in the middle of the night. The suitcase is stuffed with chopped up parts of Layla’s father. Layla’s mother, Samira, poisoned him because he was going to take Layla back to Pakistan and marry her off to some stranger because it was rumored that Layla was a lesbian. Lastly, Sally’s BFF, Janey, a mother of a newborn, kills her POS, abusive hubby while in the midst of a sleep-deprived, hallucination because she thought the raging beast in the doorway screaming at her and charging her was a monster trying to kill her and her wailing baby.
The rest of the story revolves around the ladies trying to figure out a way to dispose of the bodies without getting caught and leaving all their children orphans. Not only were there lockdown rules and regulations in place (apparently the UK was much stricter about Covid isolation rules and regs), but the ladies also had to deal with a nosybody neighbor, Edwina, who patrolled the street and admonishing anyone and everyone for not following Covid rules and regs.
The character development of the MC’s was very well done, especially Edwina. While it was sad what brought the women together, it was their shared trauma and experiences that connected and bonded them together. The pacing was steady and never seemed to drag, at least not to me, but then I became invested in the storyline from the get-go. The writing was wonderful. While the subject matter is most certainly not wonderful or funny, however, for women in that situation, some days anything that takes you out of yourself that allows you see the joy and humor in the mundane is a welcomed gift. I speak from experience.
Alexia Casale wove humor in so many parts of the story, allowing the women to start laughing again because they had long ago stopped finding life joyful. I especially found the Author’s Notes at the end interesting even if it wasn’t surprising. It should come as no shock that the violence and abuse many women endured before the pandemic, increased exponentially during lockdown. I'm looking at an overall rating of 4.5 that I will be rounding up to a 5star review.
