My Husband's Wife Book Club Questions and Discussion Guide

My Husband’s Wife starts off with a bang – Eden Fox heads out for an evening run and when she returns, her identity has been completely assumed by another woman. This woman is using her name, wearing her clothes, and living in her home – not to mention stealing her husband! With no way to prove her identity, Eden’s desperation to get to the truth kicks off a story of lies, betrayal, and family secrets. Immediately, your book club will have material for discussion and as each big reveal unfolds, there’s more and more to parse through to get to the bottom of this mystery. Like the characters themselves, you may be asking yourself, who can you trust and what possible motivations are hiding beneath the surface?

My Husband’s Wife has multiple POV’s, twists, and themes for your book club to discuss. Use our 10 book club discussion questions to kick off your conversation. This My Husband’s Wife book club guide also contains the publisher’s synopsis, reader reviews, and suggestions for similar readers if you enjoyed this book!

Synopsis for My Husband’s Wife

(We always choose to provide the publisher synopsis because we feel that it’s worthwhile to discuss whether the official book description actually squared with your experience of the book.)

My Husband’s Wife, Alice Feeney

Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife.

One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying.

Six months earlier, a reclusive Londoner called Birdy, reeling from a life-changing diagnosis, inherits Spyglass. This unexpected gift from a long-lost grandmother brings her to the pretty seaside village of Hope Falls. But then Birdy stumbles upon a shadowy London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person’s date of death, including her own. Secrets start to unravel, and as the line between truth and lies blurs, Birdy feels compelled to right some old wrongs.

My Husband’s Wife is a tangled web of deception, obsession, and mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page. Prepare yourself for the ultimate mind-bending marriage thriller and step inside Spyglass – if you dare – to experience a story where nothing is as it seems.

10 Book Club Questions for My Husband’s Wife

The book opens with Eden Fox realizing she has completely lost her identity and has no way of proving who she really is. Right away, what were your initial theories on what was happening? Did any part of you believe that perhaps she wasn’t really Eden?

Which twists, if any, did you predict and which were completely shocking?

There are several instances of both true betrayal and misplaced blame throughout the book. How did this impact the characters’ actions and their motivations?

What did you make of Birdy’s decision not to see her daughter Gabriella for 10 years? Was this a selfish or selfless decision?

Does a sleepy seaside town like Hope Falls seem appealing to you, or would London be more your speed?

“When you remove consequences, you get chaos. Even people you would never have thought capable of murder can turn into monsters when they think their time is up.”

Harrison eventually wants to sell his company Thanatos, because he doesn’t want to bear the responsibility of how humanity might behave if they had knowledge of their death date. Do you think his concerns are valid? Do you think Birdy would have participated in the plan to kill Eden if she didn’t believe her own death was imminent?

If it were possible, would you want to know the date of your death? Under what circumstances might you consider it?

After learning of the elaborate plan between Birdy, Harrison, and Mary to kill Eden, do you think Carter was justified in accepting Birdy’s offer of lifetime security or does he have a moral obligation to turn her in?

A prevalent theme throughout the book is the idea of second chances. Whether it’s evading death, renewing relationships, or finally finding happiness, many of the characters are granted opportunities to live life differently. Do you think they were all deserving of the second chances granted to them – why or why not?

If your home could have a secret tunnel to anywhere, where would it go?

Selected Reviews for My Husband’s Wife

(Use these selected Goodreads reviews to compare with your own experience of the book. Do you agree or disagree with the reviews?)

“By the time this story ends it’ll be like looking at the back of a tapestry and trying to sort out where all the threads connect. In fact, if I had a single complaint to make it would be that for the plot to work, you have to accept a lot of convenient connections between characters and plot points. I was having fun and just rolled with it, but others might find it challenging to accept. I listened to this on audio and Bel Powley, Richard Armitage and Henry Rowley, along with the sound effects, made this so much fun.”

“My Husband’s Wife starts off fast-paced and thrilling, making you eager for the story to come together, but it quickly begins to feel like the author has a checklist of plot twists and is simply dropping them in one by one. Just enough to keep the reader hooked, irritated, and morbidly curious. First of all, the “wife swap”. Preposterous. Truly. So no one in this town ever saw the real Eden during the time she lived there? And conveniently, no one saw Mary either? Everyone recognized her car but not her? She was a carer who was somehow never out in public? I cannot be the only one who sees a problem.”

“There was something about the reflective tone and rich atmosphere from the first paragraph that instantly drew me in. With the scene quickly set, I was completely hooked by the steady reveal of secrets in shocking twists. Add in the short chapters that often ended on cliffhangers, and this book became impossible to put down. However, the main characters weren’t particularly likeable, even though their complex struggles and regrets gave them some depth.”

What to Read Next

Here are a few ideas that touch upon similar themes. Each links to a discussion guide which has a non-spoiler synopsis toward the top of the page and links to Amazon reviews and pricing.

The Husbands: This is a lighter look at what happens when the spouse you expect isn’t the spouse you get.
The Names: Dark, dangerous and multiple POVs.
Into the Water: Twisty thriller also set in England.

First Lie Wins, Ashley Elston

If you liked the secret identity elements of My Husband’s Wife, then check out First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston for another twisty thriller where no one is who they first appear to be. Evie is used to living under a false identity, as a con woman completing assignments for her mysterious boss. But when another woman using Evie’s real identity shows up in the midst of her current assignment, Evie realizes she may now be the one in danger.

Here’s a book club guide for First Lie Wins. And if you’re already read it, a book of read-alikes for it.

The Guest List, Lucy Foley

Sometimes, the setting is a character. If you’re ready for a thriller that takes you back to a gloomy seaside setting, look no further than The Guest List by Lucy Foley. This locked-room who-dunnit brings together a cast of characters at a weekend wedding on an island off the coast of Ireland. When a storm cuts the island off from the mainland, the guests are forced to remain isolated together – and with a murderer amongst them!

Here’s a discussion guide for The Guest List.

The Measure, Nikki Erlicht

Intrigued by the concept of knowing your ‘death day’? The Measure by Nikki Erlicht is a speculative fiction novel in which every single person in the world wakes up to a box on their doorstep, containing a string representing the length of their life. This novel poses deep questions about what is gained and sacrificed with the knowledge of one’s own lifespan, and that of others. And while not exactly a thriller, The Measure delivers on several similar fronts, with multiple POV’s, surprising connections, and shocking reveals.

Here’s a discussion guide for The Measure.