Emma Chapman: How to Be a Good Wife

I look behind me once more, but the beach is deserted. I start to walk along the edge, towards the rocks. Clambering across them, I am taken back to our holiday on the island, when I walked out to the water, thinking at every moment I would fall. When I am far round enough, I take off my clothes, and fold them into a neat pile. I sit down, listening to the breaking of the waves. For a moment, I look down into the dark water, and then, I let myself go.

I would like to thank the following:

The whole team at Picador for making me feel immediately at home. My wonderful editor, Francesca Main, for her careful thoughts, and for motivating me to make this book the very best it can be. Jennifer Weis and Mollie Traver at St Martin’s Press for their comments and insights.

All at Toby Eady Associates for teaching me about the industry, and then for taking me on. Jamie Coleman for his humour, patience and brilliance. Zaria Rich for her helpfulness and advice. Nicole for her warmth, efficiency and endless cups of green tea. Toby Eady for his astute wisdom. Samar Hamman for her directness, honesty and kindness. Jennifer Joel and Clay Ezell at ICM; Marco Vigevani and Jan Michael for their hard work on my behalf.

Dr Simone Hughes at Creative Focus and Dr Diana Lalor at Cottesloe Counselling Centre for their insights into the realities of post-traumatic shock syndrome. Many books and journal articles have been important in researching this book, but I would like to mention Trauma and Recovery by Dr Judith Hermann, especially her work on the effects of captivity.

Professor Andrew Motion and Susanna Jones for their encouragement on the Royal Holloway MA in Creative Writing. The two-syllable group: Kat Gordon, Tom Feltham, Carolina Gonzalez-Carvajal, Rebecca Lloyd James, Lucy Hounsom, Liz Gifford, and Liza Klaussmann. Ellie Gut-tridge in the press office for spreading the word.

The teachers at Withington Girls’ School, in particular Jen Baylis, Sarah Haslam, Diane Whitehead, and Janet Pickering. Laura Firth for all her hard work.

Team Chapman. My parents, to whom I will always be grateful. Rosie, an insightful early reader and great friend. Nick for providing my first rave review (‘I wouldn’t have read this if my sister hadn’t written it.’)

My friends. In particular, Kate Yateman-Smith for promising we would run away together. Nemira Gasiunas for softminting and support. Kate Antrobus for endless congratulations cards. Liz Thomas and Ellie Johnston at Wild Lily Empire. Claire Weir for her brilliant photography. Tomek Mossakowski for being my Scandinavian expert.

Ben Mosey, for being himself, and for reminding me that I am not a tap.

‘On the surface the book is a highly competent, creepy little chiller, but beneath, like a silent, bolted and half-dark room, there’s a much bigger, equally disconcerting story about the nature of feminine experience. It’s an accomplished debut from a writer who shows insight and emotional power’

‘An intensifying mood of menace pervades this mesmerising debut. Is the fragile Marta slipping into paranoia? Or glimpsing agonising insights into a devastating nightmare about herself and her “perfect” marriage…?’

‘A compelling, twisty tale of deception and distrust. Beautifully written, and very clever indeed’

‘In her first novel, Emma Chapman has managed to walk a delicate, terrifying line. How To Be a Good Wife is at once claustrophobic, startling and hauntingly beautiful. It’s that amazing, awful kind of book that will stay with you long after you wish it would let you go’

‘Taut, elegant and pitch-perfect. As soon as you’ve read it you’ll want to talk about it’

‘Compelling and complex, this brave novel offers no safety nets… Not just a gripping read but an essential one. It will provoke questions long after the cover is closed’

‘A tense, unnerving debut, told with precision and control. As unsettling as any ghost story’

‘An impressive debut novel. Here’s hoping there’ll be more from Emma Chapman’

‘Compelling, edgy and dark – I read How To Be a Good Wife in one sitting’

‘Mesmerising. A beautiful and disturbing novel. I loved it’

‘A compelling debut: tightly plotted, tensely written, and subtle in its explorations of motive. Emma Chapman is very accomplished in her present, and a bright hope for the future’

EMMA J. CHAPMAN was born in 1985 and grew up in Manchester, England. She studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, followed by a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. After university, she travelled solo in Scandinavia, where she learned to camp, bathe in fjords, and carry everything she needed. She is currently living in Perth, Western Australia. * How to Be a Good Wife is her first novel.

First published 2013 by Picador

This electronic edition published 2013 by Picador an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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ISBN 978-1-4472-1620-9 EPUB

Copyright © Emma Chapman 2013

The right of Emma Chapman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Housekeeping © Marilynne Robinson and reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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