Publishers Weekly
05/30/2022
Hart debuts with an intriguing kaleidoscopic look at a Hollywood scandal. The story unfolds over a single day from three women’s points of view. There’s Zanne Klein, 38, working as a personal assistant to director Ted Stabler; Ted’s wife, Holly; and Phoebe Lee, Ted’s first wife and former collaborator. Once a producer, Phoebe now teaches high school English. Her career shift seems to have stemmed from the fallout of a scandal involving Jerry Silver, a Harvey Weinsteinesque power player who had sexually harassed her. Holly, meanwhile, is the face of a new initiative meant to empower women filmmakers. The day culminates with an over-the-top party at the Stablers’ house overseen by Zanne, who, after eight years on the job, is hoping for a promotion. Hart’s incisive examination of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry resonates deeply as Zanne struggles to square her own ambition and livelihood with her moral compass, and Phoebe tries to make Ted understand the scope of the damage (“every time I have ever tried to take a step forward, on my own, without you, I get dragged back to that night”). Hart keeps up a brisk pace as Holly, Phoebe, and Zanne move toward a resolution regarding the Silver case. This strong outing satisfies. (July)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Work Wife
A People Magazine Book of the Week * A New York Post Hottest Book of the Season * A Newsday Notable Book of Summer * A USA Today Book of the Week * A Salon Best Book of the Year
“[A] knockout debut…. Vengefully delicious.” —People, Book of the Week
“A page-turner, an eye-opener, a heartbreaker, a delight, The Work Wife is that rare book that illuminates a world we never knew existed while also making us feel so much less alone in everyday life.”—Julia Phillips, author of National Book Award finalist Disappearing Earth
“The Work Wife is a bold and wholly satisfying novel about power, ambition, and the price women must often pay for their dreams. I gobbled it up.”—Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of All Adults Here
“The Work Wife digs deep beneath Hollywood's glittery surface, exposing not just the messy lives of the ultra rich and the debt-saddled assistants who serve them, but the real cost of a world in which women's talents are routinely sacrificed to preserve male egos.”—Mira Jacob, author of National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Good Talk
“Written with great verve and flair, The Work Wife is a fascinating look at the sacrifices, challenges, and choices of three complicated women intertwined with a Hollywood mogul. A rewarding read, deeply satisfying from start to finish, this is truly one heck of a debut from Alison B. Hart.”—Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of All This Could Be Yours
“Alison B. Hart has created a beautifully written, feminist page-turner. Filled with biting commentary and insights into #metoo reckoning and the invisibility of behind-the-scenes ‘women’s work,’ The Work Wife is a dazzling debut. I couldn’t put it down.”—Angie Kim, bestselling author of Miracle Creek
“This timely, wry debut about female Hollywood creatives who are fed up with their delegation to the dark side of Tinseltown tackles major subjects—ambition, sisterhood, misogyny—with intimacy and heart. Witty, clever, and propulsively plotted—I dare you to put The Work Wife down.”—Courtney Maum, author of Touch and Costalegre
“Alison B. Hart’s debut novel, The Work Wife, takes us behind the scenes and into the carefully constructed lives of the Hollywood elite and their staff. It’s not pretty. Feminist and furious and sometimes very funny, The Work Wife is bursting with love for these wounded characters.”—Marcy Dermansky, author of Very Nice
“The Work Wife deftly explores what labor and ambition mean, in our current moment when we are all questioning our connections to both. A novel with nerve, this is the work of an empathetic mind, deeply curious about what women are asked to sacrifice to make it to the top.”—Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of Libertie
“Hart’s knowing, ripped-from-the-headlines debut… flies on a magic carpet of seamless, intricate detail… There’s never a moment's slip in authenticity or momentum… One hell of a debut.”—Kirkus Reviews (STARRED REVIEW)
“Intriguing kaleidoscopic look at a Hollywood scandal… Hart’s incisive examination of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry resonates deeply… This strong outing satisfies.”—Publishers Weekly
“Hart has created an engrossing, piercing look at the compromises and choices women make to succeed and thrive.”—Booklist
“[A] smartly observed novel.” —USA Today
“[A] riveting, nuanced picture of being a woman in Hollywood.”—Salon
Library Journal - Audio
09/01/2022
Hart's debut takes place over a single day, transporting listeners deep into the lives of the ostentatiously wealthy, where money can solve nearly every problem. Thirty-eight-year-old Zanne Klein has worked for Hollywood power couple Ted and Holly Stabler for a decade. This was never her dream job, but it is easy, if somewhat unsettling, and it allows her to buy a house, pay off her student loans, and live comfortably with her girlfriend. As Zanne is preparing for a massive fundraising benefit, Ted's former business partner, Phoebe Lee, appears, setting off events that reveal the ugliness behind the Stablers' opulent lifestyle. Narrator Soneela Nankani poignantly describes Zanne's devastation as she realizes that she has unknowingly become involved in the Stablers' web of lies. Zanne must decide whether what she does is worth the emotional and ethical toll. Nankani strikes exactly the right note as she describes how Hart's three central characters—Zanne, Holly, and Phoebe—weigh the costs of being powerful women in such a ruthless world. VERDICT A must-buy. This bold novel will appeal to listeners who appreciate ethical dilemmas and moral ambiguities.—Elyssa Everling
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-05-11
Inside the perfectly curated fortress of privilege that is the estate of a Hollywood billionaire, threatening tremors of a #MeToo earthquake are felt.
“Ted Stabler—the wunderkind who’d directed The Starfighter trilogy...was a late riser, but once he began his day he worked tirelessly, often until one or two in the morning. Teeing up the conditions he needed to task-shift seamlessly without squandering a minute would take all of Zanne’s focus.” Hart’s knowing, ripped-from-the-headlines debut takes us behind the scenes of Ted’s world on a day of reckoning—the day the Stablers host a “Bump and Pump” benefit for low-income women. Things get off to an inauspicious start when the party monkey pisses on the computer server, and sure enough, this is the day each of Ted's three wives (first wife, second wife, work wife) will watch the ugly truths of her position explode. Zanne Klein—described by her girlfriend as “Snow White, if Snow White was a daddy”—is the work wife, a queen bee in the hive of workers that includes everything from Ivy League graduates to a retired NFL star. Thanks to this group of people, Holly Stabler, Ted’s second wife, spends her days in what looks like glamorous ease but is actually infantilized hell. “Joe paid her bills, Flora made her bed, Erin made her doctor’s appointments and filled her prescriptions, Ilya and James drove her children to school, Katya packed their lunches, Mark hired and fired her household staff, Lauren tried on her clothes, Erin signed her name and impersonated her voice, Dawn and Zanne delivered her messages to Ted when he ducked her calls.” Holly is one of the few who know that Ted was previously married to a Korean American woman named Phoebe Lee, now an English teacher in the Bay Area. Phoebe was co-producer of the first two Starfighter flicks, but the couple split up before following through on their plan to produce her passion project, and she dropped out of sight. Now, after 20 years, she’s back in town. This book flies on a magic carpet of seamless, intricate detail, much of it from work experience the author acknowledges in an afterword. Whether we’re dropping in on Holly with her glam squad or watching in wonder as headset-wearing assistants track the movements of their bosses like world leaders, there’s never a moment's slip in authenticity or momentum.
Riveting details of a fascinating hidden world support a ruthless takedown of misogyny and entitlement. One hell of a debut.
