The Dilemma

by Penny Vincenzi

First published 2007

The third wife of a charismatic businessman faces an impossible choice. She has built her marriage and family on carefully maintained truths, but when circumstances threaten everything she holds dear, she decides to tell a complicated lie. The deception seems like the only way to protect her children and preserve her marriage. But lies have consequences, and as the emotional weight of her decision grows heavier, she finds herself caught in a web of her own making. When a crisis forces her to confront what she has done, she must evaluate whether the protection she thought she was providing was worth the price. Her businessman husband remains unaware of the lengths she has gone to safeguard their life together. The story explores how far someone will go to protect the people they love and what happens when good intentions collide with harsh realities.

Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama

Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: deception, good-intentions, unreliable-narrator

512 pages · Hardcover · Overlook Books

Content warnings: emotional-abuse

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