Alex Witchel

The Spare Wife Alex Witchel

Publisher Marketing: Ponce Morris is a beautiful, rich widow who s been dubbed the spare wife because she s the perfect companion to the wealthy, powerful couples she socializes with. She ll go to sports events with the husbands and throw elegant dinner parties and shop with the wives. She s cool and nonthreatening because the two things everyone knows for sure are that Ponce doesn t like sex and doesn t have a romantic bone in her body. Over the years, she has managed other people s lives and her own perfectly. Ponce has everything under control, exactly the way she likes it. Until Babette Steele, an ambitious aspiring journalist, finds out that Ponce is having an affair with a socially prominent and very married man and decides to break the scandal in a juicy magazine piece. For Ponce s circle, day-to-day existence quickly becomes a complicated game of social and professional chicken whoever outsmarts and outmanipulates the other will win. And there is a lot at stake, not only for Ponce but for her friends, all of whom are in the midst of crises of their own: a philandering novelist who hasn t been able to write since his breakout Wall Street bestseller, an aging billionaire who can t seem to resist young women (the younger the better), a legendary news show producer on the decline, an old-time politico looking to rebound from his wife s death, and an editor at a glitzy magazine that covers the worlds of politics, fashion, and Hollywood. As Ponce s life threatens to come apart at the seams, the author takes us into a world she knows intimately: a dynamic Manhattan filled with opinion makers and social fakers." Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 02/15/2009 pg. 24 (EAN 9780452295308, Paperback) Entertainment Weekly 03/06/2009 pg. 76 (EAN 9780452295308, Paperback) Publishers Weekly 11/19/2007 pg. 32 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2007 pg. 1265 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) Vanity Fair 02/01/2008 pg. 80 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) Library Journal 02/01/2008 pg. 65 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) Booklist 01/01/2008 pg. 46 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) Entertainment Weekly 02/08/2008 pg. 71 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 02/17/2008 pg. 6 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 02/24/2008 pg. 26 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2009 pg. 95 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 1003 (EAN 9781400041497, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Witchel, Alex Alex Witchel is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and originated the Feed Me column for the Times Dining section. She has contributed to New York, Vogue, Elle, and Ladies Home Journal, among other publications. The author of three previous books, she lives in New York. Contributor Bio:  Merlington, Laural Laural Merlington has performed and directed for 30 years in regional theaters throughout the country. She has recorded over 100 audiobooks, including many by Fern Michaels, and is the recipient of several AudioFile Magazine Earphone Awards. In addition to her extensive theater and voiceover work, Laural teaches college in her home state of Michigan.