The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas

The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas

This is a big meaty book that allows you to inhabit a character’s mind as you would your own. Or at least that of a close friend with whom you are very intimate and familiar. This the story of a woman permitting the men in her life a series of small betrayals until there is one that is almost too large to forgive. Heartbreaking. Joan Ashby is a unique talent, described as brilliant, yet there is something identifiable in her that felt universal to all wives and mothers – a combination of the unanswered sacrifice and one’s dreams and desires not being taken seriously. I loved reading about Joan as a single woman, young wife and mother, and then mother of much older children. I also enjoyed the structure of the novel in that segments of Joan’s short stories and novels were included as chapters themselves. It is such an interesting way to add to the character of writer and how her circumstances influence her writing.

About The Resurrection of Joan Ashby

I viewed the consumptive nature of love as a threat to serious women. But the wonderful man I just married believes as I do―work is paramount, absolutely no children―and now love seems to me quite marvelous.

These words are spoken to a rapturous audience by Joan Ashby, a brilliant and intense literary sensation acclaimed for her explosively dark and singular stories.

When Joan finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, she is stunned by Martin’s delight, his instant betrayal of their pact. She makes a fateful, selfless decision then, to embrace her unintentional family.

Challenged by raising two precocious sons, it is decades before she finally completes her masterpiece novel. Poised to reclaim the spotlight, to resume the intended life she gave up for love, a betrayal of Shakespearean proportion forces her to question every choice she has made.

Epic, propulsive, incredibly ambitious, and dazzlingly written, The Resurrection of Joan Ashby is a story about sacrifice and motherhood, the burdens of expectation and genius. Cherise Wolas’s gorgeous debut introduces an indelible heroine candid about her struggles and unapologetic in her ambition.

Read more of Jeannie’s Reviews on her blog, on Goodreads, or on the New York Journal of Books.