The Wives book cover
Author Blurbs

“Lyrical and poignant. An unforgettable memoir of sacrifice and determination.”
— Stephanie Land, author of the New York Times-bestselling memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay , and a Mother’s Will to Survive

“A memoir of great intimacy and generosity, THE WIVES asks aching questions about loving a person you’ll never completely understand, and what it means to build a life around the constancy of war. Simone Gorrindo is a dazzling talent.
— Katie Gutierrez, bestselling author of More Than You’ll Ever Know

“THE WIVES is a completely immersive read and a beautifully written page-turner. A triumph.”
— Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group

“This is a book about loving people even when you can’t understand them, and needing them even when you don’t like them, about being betrayed and unexpectedly saved, and ultimately about the power of human connection despite all our limitations. Gorrindo is a major talent.”
—Rufi Thorpe, author of the PEN/Faulkner finalist The Knockout Queen

Available April, 9th 2024 from Gallery/Scout (Simon&Schuster)

  • "Stunning...compelling and fascinating. I could not put this book down. One of the best books I've read this year. You'll stay up way too late reading this memoir. Highly recommended."

    — Katelyn Boyer, Fergus Falls Public Library, Fergus Falls, Minnesota

  • “The Wives gives us a peek behind the curtain into a world few of us ever think about…one of the most vulnerable and complex memoirs I've ever read that I will be thinking about for a long time to come.”

    — Emily Lessig, The Violet Fox Bookshop, Virginia Beach, VA

  • "Simone Gorrindo has cracked open a window to a room we all know exists, but which many of us may have never thought nor understood…this book illuminates and sparks.”

    — Kira Wizner, Merritt Bookstore, Milbrook, New York

  • “I loved this memoir of a woman straddling the cultural divide in her own marriage and even in her own body…I was reminded once again of the beauty and strength diversity can bring to our lives.”

    — Shirley Freeman, Bookbug & This Is a Bookstore, Kalamazoo, Michigan

  • “An honest, raw, unflinching account.”

    — Annie Philbrick, Banksquare Books, Mystic, CT

  • “[Gorrindo’s] memoir is a deep and complex view into a community that most Americans will never know, but should. The sacrifices made by military spouses and children are untold, and the bonds that form as a result are unique, complicated, and beautiful…The Wives also has the benefit of being an excellently constructed story — with a page-turning ‘plot’ and a slew of characters… a story with appeal for both memoir and fiction readers.”

    — Megan Strang, Sidetrack Bookshop, Royal Oak, Michigan

At 27, newly married and working her dream job as an editor in New York City, Simone Gorrindo thought she had found the home and sense of belonging she’d always yearned for. Then, when her husband joined an elite combat unit in the army, she quit her job to follow him to a town in Georgia, and, two weeks later, he deployed to Afghanistan. Home had never felt so far away.

Enter the wives.

There is an old adage in the Army: “If we wanted you to have a family, we would have issued you one.” But in Simone’s husband’s unit, family was borderline essential, the soldiers’ gravitational force. “They can do what they do because of you,” the commanding officers told the spouses. The women were given memos on how to be wives during and after deployments. Their primary assignment was silence. Don’t let on where your husband is, what he does for a living. On monitored phone calls: don’t ask him when he’ll be home, or why he seems as distant as the moon. And so, their lives became secrets they only shared with one another. Despite their radical differences, the other wives became Simone’s unlikely home.

THE WIVES offers an intimate and stereotype-smashing look into the inner world of a remarkable and invisible group of women. At once a stirring portrait of a marriage and a timely coming-of-age story, Simone’s memoir is a testament to the people who shape us in the moments we need them the most—and an unforgettable reminder of the power of our shared humanity in the face of the unknown.

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