Ninth Wife

<p><strong>In this funny and engaging novel Amy Stolls shows us that real-life romance is rarely as clear-cut as it seems. <em>The Ninth Wife</em> is a vibrant nuanced novel about marriage identity and the moment when we realize that the shimmer of fantasy pales next to the tumultuous reality of ordinary everyday happiness. -- Carolyn Parkhurst author of The Dogs of Babel</strong></p><p><strong>A smart funny eye-opening tale of love marriage and the power of stories to unlock the true meaning of home and family.</strong></p><p>What sane woman would consider becoming any man's ninth wife?</p><p>Bess Gray is a thirty-five-year-old folklorist and amateur martial artist living in Washington DC. Just as she's about to give up all hope of marriage she meets Rory a charming Irish musician and they fall in love. But Rory is a man with a secret which he confesses to Bess when he asks for her hand: He's been married eight times before. Shocked Bess embarks on a quest she feels she must undertake before she can give him an answer. </p><p>With her long-married bickering grandparents her neighbor (himself a mystery) a shar-pei named Stella and a mannequin named Peace Bess sets out on a cross-country journey--unbeknownst to Rory--to seek out and question the wives who came before. What she discovers about herself and her own past is far more than she bargained for.</p>