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?
"Even if we get caught and this is it, then it's joy and friendship we wouldn't have had if we'd called the police at the start, and that makes it a gift. No matter what, I'll always see it that way."
Well damn, this was a darkly delightful little story that was full of surprises. Somehow both a searing commentary on domestic abuse and femicide, an indulgent foray into female revenge and rage and a witty comedy all rolled into one with a very pretty bow on top.
It was strange and uncomfortable, with characters that I both loved and felt unsure about at the same time who created a beautiful sense of sisterhood forged in impossible circumstances- each taking their turns telling the story and giving us their insight into the odd events taking place and the different struggles they’ve faced whether it’s from patriarchal, societal or traditional oppression. Their voices were fabulous, witty and dry with a habit of noticing little details that really help set an immersive scene and really let us into their feelings. At times their narration did slow down a little - and my one main concern with this story was the switch between multiple perspectives to one, I think it was a great idea, setting the scene and the different players before zeroing in on one key person but I was already invested in the whole group but for some reason it just worked and it didn’t feel as jarring as I expected it to, I was still following and the flow didn’t break at all.
Their entire journey was chaotic - these aren’t seasoned killers, so they find themselves in ridiculous, storybook situations with only each other to find a way out. It’s larger than life, cinematic storytelling but with plenty of emotional moments to bring you back down to earth and make the striking point that this may feel impossible and unrealistic, that four average women in one town could have killed their husbands - but that’s nowhere near the number of wives killed by their husbands all the time.
A story of bloody revenge and retribution crossed with a fabulously dry ensemble humour and a lot of heart with a powerful message at its core.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- The Best Way to Bury Your Husband is available from 14th March with Penguin General. I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for a review.
- This title contains content that may be upsetting including domestic violence, body gore, and murder.
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