Recipe for a Perfect Wife
By Karma Brown
Liberty, Karachi
ISBN: 978-1789559798
298pp.

Award-winning Canadian journalist Karma Brown is phenomenally successful at writing novels. Her 2015 debut, Come Away with Me, was an instant bestseller. Since then, she has published three more bestsellers. Recipe for a Perfect Wife is her fifth novel and, again, a bestseller.

The story follows two strands and both highlight the effects of patriarchy in the fabric of our societies. In the life of Nellie, who lives in the 1950s, patriarchy’s intrusion is understandable, though deplorable. That it still plays a part in the modern-day United States in the lives of young, educated professionals is, however, a revelation.

The tale revolves around a house inhabited by two young couples, 60 years apart in time. In each case, the wives are not keen to take up residence in the house. Their misgivings are disregarded by their respective husbands and, despite their protestations, the house becomes their home.

The author moves seamlessly between the two eras — the 1950s and present day — showcasing the lives of Nellie and Alice, and the reader is hooked and eager to discover how the stories progress.

The latest bestselling novel from a Canadian author comes across almost as a beach read, but it is a page-turner that provokes readers to think about gender roles

In the present day, Alice and Nate have been living in New York City in a tiny apartment. For reasons which we only discover later, Alice gets fired from her job in publishing, hides the fact from her husband and lets it be known that she has left of her own volition because she wants to write. Nate, now the sole provider, takes this as his cue to move to the suburbs and start a family. Alice can find no valid reason to counter the move and soon finds herself isolated in the large and decrepit house, with nothing much to do and no clear idea of what to write.

At this juncture, she stumbles, literally, on a 1950s cookbook belonging to Nellie, the previous owner. It is full of quaint recipes such as Baked Alaska and Alice decides to try some of them out to fill her lonely, idle hours. She becomes curious about the life of her predecessor and, again very fortuitously, her neighbour gives her a set of letters written by Nellie to her mother, which had never been posted.

Through these admittedly rather contrived methods, the reader gets to know the story of Nellie, a financially dependent wife who has no choice but to obey her pompous, pretentious and physically abusive husband. Her figure has to be perfect and her adoration for her husband apparent to others. At the same time, she has to organise perfect parties and keep up with all social obligations to her husband’s satisfaction.

Nellie puts up a brave front. ‘What will people say’ is an ever-present fear in her world! She finds solace in cooking and gardening and in her relationship with her motherly neighbour. Yet, as her story advances, it becomes clear that no effort of hers can make her marriage a happy one.

The role of patriarchy in the 1950s is clear and strong. Snippets from advice books of the era, which start most chapters in Recipe for a Perfect Wife, are hilarious, even as they delineate the cruel truth of the power imbalance in marriages of that time.

Wives are exhorted to serve their husbands. Their first duty is deemed to keep husbands happy by being totally subservient to their wishes. In a quote from Married Life and Happiness, one of the aforementioned advice books written in 1922, wives are told to even ignore the extramarital adventures of their husbands. “An occasional lapse from the straight path does not mean that he has ceased to love you,” the book advises and suggests forgiving and forgetting, or even feigning ignorance of the lapse.

Patriarchy plays a role in the modern-day lives of Alice and Nate as well. In the city, they are considered to be an ideal couple, yet Nate changes when he becomes the sole provider. He stops helping with household chores and tries to impose his views upon Alice about beginning a family. From his point of view, his actions are logical: since he has to work and commute and since she is doing “nothing” at home, all housework is her responsibility. Equally, since she is not working, she can and should start a family.

An Oscar Wilde quote in the book goes that “the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties.” Unconsciously following this advice, Alice counters Nate’s transformation by becoming secretive. Soon, Nate and Alice begin living parallel lives and their earlier compatibility and companionship dry up.

Later, we find that Nate has been harbouring secrets, too. Slowly, their marriage takes on the complexion of the 1950s couple, where Nellie and Richard keep their own counsel and know nothing of each other’s thoughts and motivations.

Though the endings of the two stories are very different, they are satisfying in their own way. Nellie uses her expertise as a cook and gardener to escape her sorry situation. Alice vacillates longer. She finally asks herself, “Who am I?” and the answer leads her to her goal.

Recipe for a Perfect Wife comes across almost as a beach read, but it is a page-turner that provokes readers to think. The underlying patriarchy in all cultures and all periods is brought to the fore and many readers in Pakistan may find several aspects of the lives of Nellie and Alice familiar since, in the vast majority of Pakistani marriages, gender roles are rigidly enforced. Male supremacy remains unquestioned and a woman who does not have children is considered to be failing in her role as a wife.

Brown’s writing has a natural flow. She keeps the chapters short and makes the switches in her dual narrative smooth as silk. She evokes the 1950s by including recipes and popular songs from that decade and talks of thalidomide being prescribed for morning sickness, reminding us of that tragic medical mistake that led to children being born with deformed limbs and damaged organs. Alice’s life is easier to design, for it is set in present day but, lest we forget, reference is made to the #MeToo movement as well.

There is repeated mention of foxgloves in the garden of the miserable house, and it is a little clumsy, for it lets the cat out of the bag somewhat — at least for readers who might be fans of British murder mystery writer Agatha Christie. However, for all the anguish and angst in the lives of the two heroines, the story does not have the menace and despair of American novelist Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives, nor its traumatic ending.

Brown does not want to disturb. She wishes to entertain while coaxing readers into seeing how elusive gender equality still is. For that, one might be compelled to call Brown a true storyteller. She has made sure that Recipe for a Perfect Wife is a pleasant read — the story will resonate with most women, the ending is pleasing and there is a distinct sense of gratification as one turns over the last page.

The reviewer is a freelance writer, author of the novel The Tea Trolley and translator of Toofan Se Pehlay: Safar-i-Europe Ki Diary

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, April 9th, 2023