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Wife & Wife
Not yet published
Expected 23 Feb 27A new masterpiece of modern queer fiction, Wife & Wife is a sharply observed and deeply moving story of love, discovery, and defiance.
It is 1955 in the affluent suburb of Pearl’s Cove, New York. Twenty-five-year-old housewife and mother of two Ruth Wolf is a glamorous platinum blonde who secretly devours lesbian pulp fiction shoplifted from the local drugstore. But nothing about her clandestine reading has prepared her for what will happen when she meets Sylvie Fein, a socialite who pours her energy into making art while her children are at school. Their connection is electric and instantly threatens to upend their dutiful, traditional lives.
Dazzled and in love, Ruth and Sylvie struggle to find a way to be together for more than half a century, wrestling with the expectations of their families and neighbors and the undeniable force of their desire for one another. From the stifling kitchens of the 50s to the triumphant coming of gay marriage in 2011, this is a sharpy observed, wryly funny and deeply moving journey through time and the human heart.
Wife & Wife transforms a single love affair between two ordinary women into a sweeping narrative of discovery and reinvention, mirroring the profound cultural upheavals that redefined marriage and family in America.
It is 1955 in the affluent suburb of Pearl’s Cove, New York. Twenty-five-year-old housewife and mother of two Ruth Wolf is a glamorous platinum blonde who secretly devours lesbian pulp fiction shoplifted from the local drugstore. But nothing about her clandestine reading has prepared her for what will happen when she meets Sylvie Fein, a socialite who pours her energy into making art while her children are at school. Their connection is electric and instantly threatens to upend their dutiful, traditional lives.
Dazzled and in love, Ruth and Sylvie struggle to find a way to be together for more than half a century, wrestling with the expectations of their families and neighbors and the undeniable force of their desire for one another. From the stifling kitchens of the 50s to the triumphant coming of gay marriage in 2011, this is a sharpy observed, wryly funny and deeply moving journey through time and the human heart.
Wife & Wife transforms a single love affair between two ordinary women into a sweeping narrative of discovery and reinvention, mirroring the profound cultural upheavals that redefined marriage and family in America.
352 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication February 23, 2027
About the author
Elizabeth Harris
2 books79 followersElizabeth Harris is the the author of two novels, "Wife & Wife" and "How To Sleep At Night." She is also an award winning reporter at The New York Times, where she has covered education, real estate and books. She lives in New York City with her wife and kids.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 4, 2026
Review of advance copy received from HarperCollins and NetGalley. Thank you!!
Elizabeth Harris is simply a literary beast, there is really no other way to explain it. This story follows Ruth and Sylvie as they navigate being queer throughout the many stages of their life. Harris digs into the shame, confusion and deep sadness that arises when being out and proud was something of the much distant future. I was worried at first that this novel would be cliché and potentially forgettable. It ended up being everything I was looking for in a queer novel, and one that is focused on women in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
It was a reminder of the queers before us that fought so hard to get to where we are now. Ruth and Sylvie are perfect characters together and at times, yep, they pissed me off. Both of them. Equally. In the end, I could understand why I was frustrated with them, they were experiencing this “alone together.” I could not recommend this book enough. Easily one of my top five reads of the year.
Elizabeth Harris is simply a literary beast, there is really no other way to explain it. This story follows Ruth and Sylvie as they navigate being queer throughout the many stages of their life. Harris digs into the shame, confusion and deep sadness that arises when being out and proud was something of the much distant future. I was worried at first that this novel would be cliché and potentially forgettable. It ended up being everything I was looking for in a queer novel, and one that is focused on women in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
It was a reminder of the queers before us that fought so hard to get to where we are now. Ruth and Sylvie are perfect characters together and at times, yep, they pissed me off. Both of them. Equally. In the end, I could understand why I was frustrated with them, they were experiencing this “alone together.” I could not recommend this book enough. Easily one of my top five reads of the year.
October 7, 2026
Oh, this was beautiful.
I knew going into it it was likely to be sad, and I wasn’t wrong– the whole book, even the moments of joy, felt so deeply permeated with this overwhelming sense of grief. Grief for what had to be lost to find happiness, grief for the lives gay people back then deserved to live, grief for the horrifying events of the AIDS crisis. There was grief and fear and so much raw, overwhelming emotion, but it was beautiful. It made me feel so connected to our ancestors in the LGBTQ+ community. It made me want to pick up nonfiction books about that history and learn more about the people who came before me and paved the way. Things are hard, but we are so lucky, and this book helped me really see that.
I loved our main character Ruth. She really stood out because she was so REAL. She was lovable and endearing but also flawed and imperfect, but still sympathetic. She was so well written and felt like a real person. Sylvie was ethereal and beautiful and sometimes felt perfect but then there would be those moments that reminded you she was real too. Everything both of them did felt so rooted and grounded in their lives and what they had gone through. It was so wonderfully done. I also loved the side characters, particularly Adam.
I learned a lot from this book too– about queer history, but also, as a fun bonus, a lot about Jewish culture in America in the 1950s/1980s, and a ton of Yiddish words I wasn’t familiar with and that was really cool!!
The book made me cry, it made me grieve, it made me grateful for the world we live in even if we have a long way to go, it reminded me that we still have to keep fighting, that we and the people who fought and lived before us deserve more progress.
It was beautiful. I’m so happy I got to read it. Thank you to NetGalley and the folks at William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I knew going into it it was likely to be sad, and I wasn’t wrong– the whole book, even the moments of joy, felt so deeply permeated with this overwhelming sense of grief. Grief for what had to be lost to find happiness, grief for the lives gay people back then deserved to live, grief for the horrifying events of the AIDS crisis. There was grief and fear and so much raw, overwhelming emotion, but it was beautiful. It made me feel so connected to our ancestors in the LGBTQ+ community. It made me want to pick up nonfiction books about that history and learn more about the people who came before me and paved the way. Things are hard, but we are so lucky, and this book helped me really see that.
I loved our main character Ruth. She really stood out because she was so REAL. She was lovable and endearing but also flawed and imperfect, but still sympathetic. She was so well written and felt like a real person. Sylvie was ethereal and beautiful and sometimes felt perfect but then there would be those moments that reminded you she was real too. Everything both of them did felt so rooted and grounded in their lives and what they had gone through. It was so wonderfully done. I also loved the side characters, particularly Adam.
I learned a lot from this book too– about queer history, but also, as a fun bonus, a lot about Jewish culture in America in the 1950s/1980s, and a ton of Yiddish words I wasn’t familiar with and that was really cool!!
The book made me cry, it made me grieve, it made me grateful for the world we live in even if we have a long way to go, it reminded me that we still have to keep fighting, that we and the people who fought and lived before us deserve more progress.
It was beautiful. I’m so happy I got to read it. Thank you to NetGalley and the folks at William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Did Not Finish
October 8, 2026dnf @ 53% - this one really didn’t work for me. the drastic jumps in time made the story altogether feel rushed and like significant gaps were being brushed over in brief paragraphs. the first part of the book ends with our narrator at a major crossroads and then part two begins 25 years in the future, taking us abruptly
out of the reality of that situation. i felt distant from the main characters and their relationship the entire time, despite this subject matter being very much for me (except the motherhood aspect). i’m not someone who believes “show don’t tell” is always the best advice, but this is definitely the kind of writing that advice applies to. thank you netgalley for the arc <3
out of the reality of that situation. i felt distant from the main characters and their relationship the entire time, despite this subject matter being very much for me (except the motherhood aspect). i’m not someone who believes “show don’t tell” is always the best advice, but this is definitely the kind of writing that advice applies to. thank you netgalley for the arc <3
October 2, 2026
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!
Wow, what a wonderful story that evoked such a range of emotions. Wife & Wife follows the story of a woman who falls in love with another woman in the 1950s and takes us through their life. In a lot of places it was very heartbreaking but also so tremendously sweet and romantic. It made me grateful to not have to hide in the way they felt they had to. I’m going to miss reading about these women. This book served as a great reminder of what people have fought for and why we have to continue to fight for equal rights.
Wow, what a wonderful story that evoked such a range of emotions. Wife & Wife follows the story of a woman who falls in love with another woman in the 1950s and takes us through their life. In a lot of places it was very heartbreaking but also so tremendously sweet and romantic. It made me grateful to not have to hide in the way they felt they had to. I’m going to miss reading about these women. This book served as a great reminder of what people have fought for and why we have to continue to fight for equal rights.
August 8, 2026
i am so grateful to have been given this early arc to read! this was so beautiful and real and human, i loved this so so much! i really grew an attachment to the characters (especially Ruth & Sylvie obviously) and i just loved getting to go through life with them and seeing how they had to navigate their relationship and the world around them as well as the hardships they’ve had to go through! my only complaint is that it’s not longer because I want to spend more time with these characters and their lives! this was my first read by Elizabeth Harris and im excited to read more from her!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is not a romance, exactly. But it is absolutely a love story.
Wife & Wife begins in 1955 with Ruth Wolf, a young Jewish wife and mother living the kind of life women were expected to want. She is married to Nathan, they have two children, and Ruth is a devoted mother. Then she meets Sylvie Fein—another housewife, and eventually her best friend—and falls deeply in love with her.
What makes this book so powerful is that Ruth and Sylvie don’t have the language, freedom, or cultural framework that later generations would have for understanding themselves. Ruth especially has spent her life understanding love, marriage, motherhood, and family entirely through a heteronormative lens. She knows that she loves Sylvie. Figuring out what that means—and what she’s willing or able to do about it—is something else entirely.
The novel follows these characters across decades, through marriages and divorces, motherhood and estrangement, secrecy and enormous cultural change, eventually reaching 2011, when New York legalized same-sex marriage.
I loved the scope of this story. Harris allows us to see just how dramatically the world changes over the course of one person’s lifetime. The book moves through the history of gay rights in America and the AIDS crisis, including those terrifying early years when so little was understood about how HIV was transmitted and there was no effective treatment. The historical details never felt like they were being inserted simply to teach the reader something; instead, they shape the choices these characters are able to make at different points in their lives.
And those choices aren’t always good ones. There are secrets here—so many secrets—and sometimes keeping them only causes more pain. There are consequences to loving someone in a world that tells you that love is unacceptable, and those consequences don’t disappear simply because the world eventually changes.
I was also reminded of Sarah Goodman Confino’s historical fiction because Jewish identity is so naturally woven into the characters’ lives. The traditions, family dynamics, expectations, and culture aren’t incidental details; they’re part of who these people are and how they understand family.
For a story that contains so much sadness, though, Wife & Wife is surprisingly funny and ultimately incredibly hopeful. I laughed. I definitely cried. And I absolutely loved the ending.
Most of all, I loved these characters. There is something extraordinarily moving about following people who were born into one version of America and lived long enough to see possibilities that would have seemed unimaginable when they were young.
If you’re interested in LGBTQ+ history, particularly what the enormous cultural and legal changes of the second half of the twentieth century actually meant in the life of an ordinary person, I highly recommend this one. It’s a story about love and loyalty, but also about identity, family, secrecy, survival, and how profoundly the world can change within a single lifetime.
I’m really grateful I got to read it. Ruth and Sylvie are going to stay with me for a long time.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication date: February 23, 2027
Publisher: William Morrow
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reading copy.
Wife & Wife begins in 1955 with Ruth Wolf, a young Jewish wife and mother living the kind of life women were expected to want. She is married to Nathan, they have two children, and Ruth is a devoted mother. Then she meets Sylvie Fein—another housewife, and eventually her best friend—and falls deeply in love with her.
What makes this book so powerful is that Ruth and Sylvie don’t have the language, freedom, or cultural framework that later generations would have for understanding themselves. Ruth especially has spent her life understanding love, marriage, motherhood, and family entirely through a heteronormative lens. She knows that she loves Sylvie. Figuring out what that means—and what she’s willing or able to do about it—is something else entirely.
The novel follows these characters across decades, through marriages and divorces, motherhood and estrangement, secrecy and enormous cultural change, eventually reaching 2011, when New York legalized same-sex marriage.
I loved the scope of this story. Harris allows us to see just how dramatically the world changes over the course of one person’s lifetime. The book moves through the history of gay rights in America and the AIDS crisis, including those terrifying early years when so little was understood about how HIV was transmitted and there was no effective treatment. The historical details never felt like they were being inserted simply to teach the reader something; instead, they shape the choices these characters are able to make at different points in their lives.
And those choices aren’t always good ones. There are secrets here—so many secrets—and sometimes keeping them only causes more pain. There are consequences to loving someone in a world that tells you that love is unacceptable, and those consequences don’t disappear simply because the world eventually changes.
I was also reminded of Sarah Goodman Confino’s historical fiction because Jewish identity is so naturally woven into the characters’ lives. The traditions, family dynamics, expectations, and culture aren’t incidental details; they’re part of who these people are and how they understand family.
For a story that contains so much sadness, though, Wife & Wife is surprisingly funny and ultimately incredibly hopeful. I laughed. I definitely cried. And I absolutely loved the ending.
Most of all, I loved these characters. There is something extraordinarily moving about following people who were born into one version of America and lived long enough to see possibilities that would have seemed unimaginable when they were young.
If you’re interested in LGBTQ+ history, particularly what the enormous cultural and legal changes of the second half of the twentieth century actually meant in the life of an ordinary person, I highly recommend this one. It’s a story about love and loyalty, but also about identity, family, secrecy, survival, and how profoundly the world can change within a single lifetime.
I’m really grateful I got to read it. Ruth and Sylvie are going to stay with me for a long time.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication date: February 23, 2027
Publisher: William Morrow
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reading copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you Netgallery for the ARC of Wife and Wife.
When considering my review I landed on a point over and over.
This was really Ruth’s story and Sylvia was more of a background character. I would have liked more details about their relationship.
However, I was immediately drawn into Ruth and Sylvia’s story and the impossible circumstances surrounding their relationship in the 1950s. In a world determined to dictate what women could be, who they could love, and how they were expected to live. Their relationship carried a constant undercurrent of fear and risk.
I was rooting for Ruth and her children from the beginning. Ruth could be frustrating—her fear often seemed to dictate her choices, even in moments when I wanted her to take a chance and trust the people closest to her. But that frustration ultimately made her more compelling. Her fear felt less like a character flaw and more like the product of a world that had taught her exactly what could happen when you stepped outside its rules.
I did wish some of her familiar relationship had been more intimate. There was so much secrecy and emotional distance, and I sometimes found myself wondering why Ruth continued to keep certain things hidden. That tension could have been explored even more deeply.
And then there was Adam. Sweet Adam. I found myself particularly invested in him and deeply resentful of his father for the way he treated both of his children. Those moments added another layer to Ruth’s struggle and made her desire to protect her children all the more poignant.
Sylvia was harder to pin down. For much of the book, I wasn’t entirely convinced she was sincere, it wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way through that I felt I had a clearer sense of her.
I’ll reiterate here that, despite the title and the central relationship, this ultimately felt much more like Ruth’s story than Sylvia’s. Sylvia’s journey often remained just outside the center of the narrative, running alongside Ruth’s rather than fully intersecting with it.
There were moments when the story felt a little disjointed, and some of the threads didn’t connect as seamlessly as I would have liked. Still, there was enough emotional weight and genuine investment in the characters to carry the story through those uneven patches.
Overall, this was a solid, thought-provoking read about love, fear, motherhood, and the exhausting cost of living a life that society insists must remain hidden
When considering my review I landed on a point over and over.
This was really Ruth’s story and Sylvia was more of a background character. I would have liked more details about their relationship.
However, I was immediately drawn into Ruth and Sylvia’s story and the impossible circumstances surrounding their relationship in the 1950s. In a world determined to dictate what women could be, who they could love, and how they were expected to live. Their relationship carried a constant undercurrent of fear and risk.
I was rooting for Ruth and her children from the beginning. Ruth could be frustrating—her fear often seemed to dictate her choices, even in moments when I wanted her to take a chance and trust the people closest to her. But that frustration ultimately made her more compelling. Her fear felt less like a character flaw and more like the product of a world that had taught her exactly what could happen when you stepped outside its rules.
I did wish some of her familiar relationship had been more intimate. There was so much secrecy and emotional distance, and I sometimes found myself wondering why Ruth continued to keep certain things hidden. That tension could have been explored even more deeply.
And then there was Adam. Sweet Adam. I found myself particularly invested in him and deeply resentful of his father for the way he treated both of his children. Those moments added another layer to Ruth’s struggle and made her desire to protect her children all the more poignant.
Sylvia was harder to pin down. For much of the book, I wasn’t entirely convinced she was sincere, it wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way through that I felt I had a clearer sense of her.
I’ll reiterate here that, despite the title and the central relationship, this ultimately felt much more like Ruth’s story than Sylvia’s. Sylvia’s journey often remained just outside the center of the narrative, running alongside Ruth’s rather than fully intersecting with it.
There were moments when the story felt a little disjointed, and some of the threads didn’t connect as seamlessly as I would have liked. Still, there was enough emotional weight and genuine investment in the characters to carry the story through those uneven patches.
Overall, this was a solid, thought-provoking read about love, fear, motherhood, and the exhausting cost of living a life that society insists must remain hidden
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
4,5⭐
I liked Wife & Wife so much I read it twice before deciding i could write about it. What a beautiful and bittersweet story about womanhood, motherhood, queerness and identity, I'm equal parts heartbroken and delighted.
We follow Ruth and Sylvie for 50 years as they navigate the tribulations and hardships intimately associated with being women and queer in a world that constantly puts us last.
I loved the relationship between Ruth and Sylvie, they had so much chemistry and passion between them, they were willing to sacrifice parts of themselves in order to have what they could when they could in a society that denied them so much; it was their own brand of resistance.
I also absolutely loved how with their story we got historical events occurring, and how it held weight in their lives and steered their story one way or another. One of my favorite ones was where they stood with Stonewall and the AIDS crisis, it saddened.me but it was very necessary for several reasons, but especially because you cannot skip those events when talking about queer history.
The writing made this book feel like a diary for a big part of it, it felt confessional and intimate and it worked so well with the story's premise, I really enjoyed it. Really, the only thing I wish it was different is that, because the story spans so many years, some moments pass by too quickly and don't deliver the emotion they deserve, and that was one of the reasons that made me wish we had a bit more time to let those moments land and sit with us.
Other than that, if the fact I read it twice wasn't enough to make it clear how much I loved it, here it goes: I loved it. We need more historical books that tell queer history from the perspective of women, lesbians (like in this one!) even more because their experience is so complex when they have to fight so many enemies to be able to just be and freely love who they love. Definitely a must read.
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I liked Wife & Wife so much I read it twice before deciding i could write about it. What a beautiful and bittersweet story about womanhood, motherhood, queerness and identity, I'm equal parts heartbroken and delighted.
We follow Ruth and Sylvie for 50 years as they navigate the tribulations and hardships intimately associated with being women and queer in a world that constantly puts us last.
I loved the relationship between Ruth and Sylvie, they had so much chemistry and passion between them, they were willing to sacrifice parts of themselves in order to have what they could when they could in a society that denied them so much; it was their own brand of resistance.
I also absolutely loved how with their story we got historical events occurring, and how it held weight in their lives and steered their story one way or another. One of my favorite ones was where they stood with Stonewall and the AIDS crisis, it saddened.me but it was very necessary for several reasons, but especially because you cannot skip those events when talking about queer history.
The writing made this book feel like a diary for a big part of it, it felt confessional and intimate and it worked so well with the story's premise, I really enjoyed it. Really, the only thing I wish it was different is that, because the story spans so many years, some moments pass by too quickly and don't deliver the emotion they deserve, and that was one of the reasons that made me wish we had a bit more time to let those moments land and sit with us.
Other than that, if the fact I read it twice wasn't enough to make it clear how much I loved it, here it goes: I loved it. We need more historical books that tell queer history from the perspective of women, lesbians (like in this one!) even more because their experience is so complex when they have to fight so many enemies to be able to just be and freely love who they love. Definitely a must read.
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was so excited to read Wife & Wife by Elizabeth Harris and it did not disappoint. This is a beautiful love story of two women who fell in love during the 1950s when being a lesbian or gay was not socially acceptable. The book is written though several decades and deals with various historical events within the LGBBTQ community including the AIDS epidemic, Stonewall, and the acceptance of gay marriage while following Ruth's and Sylvie's life journey. This book had me feeling all the emotions! It was tender at times while other times, I was very angry at what was going on. Both women were married to men as that is "what women did". It was difficult for them to acknowledge who they truly were even after it was socially acceptable. This book is a great reminder of how far we have come and provides us with a picture of how things used to be. While this book is a work of fiction, it is obvious that the author, Elizabeth Harris, researched to ensure historical accuracy. I appreciate the imaginary used in this book as I could close my eyes and see what she was describing. I am excited to read How To Sleep at Night by this author as well!
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing for providing me with this advance copy to read and review.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing for providing me with this advance copy to read and review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Calling all sapphic fiction lovers! Add this to the top of your TBR.
I love a sweeping character narrative and this was such an engaging read. What an accomplishment on the author’s part to write a novel that is both expansive and deeply intimate at the same time.
Wife & Wife delivers a poignant and compelling story about love, identity, and the complicated reality of navigating life as a lesbian across decades of social change. Spanning three decades in Ruth’s life from adolescence to her elderly years, what unfolds is a story of romance between two women who fall in love in a world that offers them very few paths of building a life together.
At its heart, Wife & Wife is a deeply moving and thoughtfully authentic novel with an artfully written romance. Ruth is a character who comes across as remarkably real and her journey throughout the story feels relatable and complex.
A beautiful story that encapsulates the queer experience in a richly historical context. If you (like me) spend a lot of time thinking of the moment Carol Aird drops her glove, this one is especially for you.
Calling all sapphic fiction lovers! Add this to the top of your TBR.
I love a sweeping character narrative and this was such an engaging read. What an accomplishment on the author’s part to write a novel that is both expansive and deeply intimate at the same time.
Wife & Wife delivers a poignant and compelling story about love, identity, and the complicated reality of navigating life as a lesbian across decades of social change. Spanning three decades in Ruth’s life from adolescence to her elderly years, what unfolds is a story of romance between two women who fall in love in a world that offers them very few paths of building a life together.
At its heart, Wife & Wife is a deeply moving and thoughtfully authentic novel with an artfully written romance. Ruth is a character who comes across as remarkably real and her journey throughout the story feels relatable and complex.
A beautiful story that encapsulates the queer experience in a richly historical context. If you (like me) spend a lot of time thinking of the moment Carol Aird drops her glove, this one is especially for you.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
It’s not every book that leaves me speechless but Wife & Wife sure did. This is an amazing forbidden sapphic romance that is steeped so well in actual history that it almost reads like a historical novel. There is so much to unwrap in this book… but it doesn’t ever feel overwhelming. The book is broken into three parts, chronicling the life of Ruth, a 1950s housewife, from her adolescence through to her eighties. The main focus of the book is her relationship with her neighbor Sylvie, and how Ruth evolves in her acceptance and understanding of her sexuality. Ruth and Sylvie are so easy to love; they are funny and generous and perfect for each other. While this is a sapphic love story, it’s also a very informative journey through queer history, from the 1950s to 2000s. The author did a wonderful job researching the challenges for gay people during those times, from the AIDS crisis to sodomy laws, and even provides an excellent reading list if you want to learn more.
This book is respectful of the queer elders who fought and helped form the historical foundation of this book, and that makes it a joy to read.
This book is respectful of the queer elders who fought and helped form the historical foundation of this book, and that makes it a joy to read.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Ruth Wolf is a Jewish, NY suburbs 1950’s housewife and mother who has always known she’s a bit different than the other housewives. She shoplifts lesbian pulp fiction and secretly devours it in the pantry while her children nap. When she meets Sylvie Fein, a glamorous socialite and housewife next door, their connection is instant.
Opening in 2011 with the legalization of gay marriage in the US, we see scenes of celebration and this sets the scene perfectly for the rest of the story. The protestors on the other side of the street are briefly mentioned, but the focus is on the happiness and the couples. We quickly then move to the beginning of the story in the 1950’s, and what a stark difference it was! We follow Ruth from her days as a 1950 housewife, all the way to that opening scene in 2011 and it is quite the journey. There is romance, family, sadness, reconciliation, and many emotions in between.
“The law was not coming to save a woman like her. That was the reality.”
Read if you like:
-LGBTQIA American history
-Sapphic romance
-Family sagas
Wife & Wife comes out 2/23/27.
Opening in 2011 with the legalization of gay marriage in the US, we see scenes of celebration and this sets the scene perfectly for the rest of the story. The protestors on the other side of the street are briefly mentioned, but the focus is on the happiness and the couples. We quickly then move to the beginning of the story in the 1950’s, and what a stark difference it was! We follow Ruth from her days as a 1950 housewife, all the way to that opening scene in 2011 and it is quite the journey. There is romance, family, sadness, reconciliation, and many emotions in between.
“The law was not coming to save a woman like her. That was the reality.”
Read if you like:
-LGBTQIA American history
-Sapphic romance
-Family sagas
Wife & Wife comes out 2/23/27.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I really enjoyed this pirate time-travel romance. The premise of a modern man being transported back to 1718 and falling for a pirate captain was a lot of fun, and the adventure kept me engaged throughout. The romance developed well alongside the action, and the emotional stakes of choosing between two different lives made for an entertaining read.
I listened to the audiobook, and James Amherst's narration was solid. I did end up increasing the playback speed a bit, but that's more of a personal listening preference than a criticism of the performance. The narration fit the story well and helped bring the characters to life.
If you're looking for an LGBTQ+ romance with pirates, time travel, adventure, and a touch of angst, this is definitely worth checking out. It makes a fun summer read/listen!
Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing an advance listening copy. All opinions are my own.
I listened to the audiobook, and James Amherst's narration was solid. I did end up increasing the playback speed a bit, but that's more of a personal listening preference than a criticism of the performance. The narration fit the story well and helped bring the characters to life.
If you're looking for an LGBTQ+ romance with pirates, time travel, adventure, and a touch of angst, this is definitely worth checking out. It makes a fun summer read/listen!
Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing an advance listening copy. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
i received an e-ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!
a lovely story that spans over fifty years, centring ruth and sylvie, from neighbours to lovers to wives.
genuinely, i had a great time with this one. i read 93% of the book in one sitting and i don't regret it one bit. it's real, meaningful, and feels so human.
my only qualm really is that it felt like a lot of events were happening in a way that didn't allow us to fully experience it with the characters.
i loved how we are taken through time, stopping at key historical events. i loved how the writing felt almost like a diary. i loved the characters and their relationships with each other.
and i'm keeping my eye out for both elizabeth harris! i love her writing style and am excited to see what she'll be up to next!
a lovely story that spans over fifty years, centring ruth and sylvie, from neighbours to lovers to wives.
genuinely, i had a great time with this one. i read 93% of the book in one sitting and i don't regret it one bit. it's real, meaningful, and feels so human.
my only qualm really is that it felt like a lot of events were happening in a way that didn't allow us to fully experience it with the characters.
i loved how we are taken through time, stopping at key historical events. i loved how the writing felt almost like a diary. i loved the characters and their relationships with each other.
and i'm keeping my eye out for both elizabeth harris! i love her writing style and am excited to see what she'll be up to next!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
When I started reading this novel, and even twenty or thirty pages into it, I was honestly expecting something quite forgettable, and HOW WRONG WAS I. You have to believe me when I tell you that Elizabeth Harris avoids each and every tiresome misunderstanding, cliché, expected plot point and just everytime lands on top of something that keeps getting more and more moving and heart-wrenching. I now have an amazing recommendation for anyone who wants to read a good, entertaining AND well-researched novel about "lesbians from sixty years ago who were housewives and had to stay in the closet for their whole lives". Mega bonus point for the absolutely formidable insight into Jewish American lives in the North-East of the USA during the second half of the 20th century, I enjoyed every bit of it
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publisher for an eARC of Wife & Wife by Elizabeth Harris in exchange for an honest review.
⭐5/5 stars!!⭐
WOW "Wife & Wife" was everything I needed and more! I am not exaggerating when I say I cancelled my Friday night plans to stay in and finish reading this book in one sitting. I loved Elizabeth Harris's writing style and the way she made her characters imperfect yet lovable. This story spans over several decades and gave me the perfect combination of queer love story and historical fiction. The plot twist she incorporated in the second half of the book (no spoilers!) was so clever and just added to my emotional connection to the book. In short, I never wanted this story to end, and it has quickly secured a spot on my list of favorite books ever.
⭐5/5 stars!!⭐
WOW "Wife & Wife" was everything I needed and more! I am not exaggerating when I say I cancelled my Friday night plans to stay in and finish reading this book in one sitting. I loved Elizabeth Harris's writing style and the way she made her characters imperfect yet lovable. This story spans over several decades and gave me the perfect combination of queer love story and historical fiction. The plot twist she incorporated in the second half of the book (no spoilers!) was so clever and just added to my emotional connection to the book. In short, I never wanted this story to end, and it has quickly secured a spot on my list of favorite books ever.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I am so grateful this was my first ARC! This book is a true coming of age story about Ruth Wolf and her partner of 55 years, Sylvie. While this isn’t a romance, it is a love story of a quiet and respectful partnership while being closeted in the late 1950s.
The historical ties to this book were so interesting because it humanized these large events- like the civil rights movement, the AIDS epidemic and the Supreme Court marriage equality decision. You can picture Ruth and Sylvie in all of these places because Elizabeth Harris paints such a great picture of their town, the people around them and the world they live in.
Ruth starts the book as a curious teenager but we then find her married with two children when she meets Sylvie. They begin an affair, while her husband finds out she’s unfaithful he doesn’t know it’s with a woman. It goes through pivotal times throughout their life and trying times. The way Harris reconnected Ruth and her son was my favorite story line. I’m so glad they were able to reconnect and have a relationship.
At the core- this is just a gorgeous story about two women who found love in an unexpected place and despite it all stayed together. This was a beautifully written story but wasn’t too dense or heavy handed. It will stay with me for a long time.
The historical ties to this book were so interesting because it humanized these large events- like the civil rights movement, the AIDS epidemic and the Supreme Court marriage equality decision. You can picture Ruth and Sylvie in all of these places because Elizabeth Harris paints such a great picture of their town, the people around them and the world they live in.
Ruth starts the book as a curious teenager but we then find her married with two children when she meets Sylvie. They begin an affair, while her husband finds out she’s unfaithful he doesn’t know it’s with a woman. It goes through pivotal times throughout their life and trying times. The way Harris reconnected Ruth and her son was my favorite story line. I’m so glad they were able to reconnect and have a relationship.
At the core- this is just a gorgeous story about two women who found love in an unexpected place and despite it all stayed together. This was a beautifully written story but wasn’t too dense or heavy handed. It will stay with me for a long time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. this was a beautifully written fictional saga of Ruth and Sylvie's closeted relationship over the course of 50+ years – from the challenges of managing a household and young children in the 50s to empty nesting amid the AIDS crisis in the 80s, and culminating in a long overdue wedding in 2011 - they soldier on conspicuously as the world around them shifts from shaming their "unconventional" lifestyle to legitimizing their love. in this sense, the novel reads more like an historical fiction than an epic love story. overall, very enjoyable and worth a read.
September 1, 2026
This is a great historical lesbian romance novel, that focuses on two wives who meet each other one day at the park and slowly realize over the years that oh shit, they are extremely in love. We start in the 50s (and slightly before for one of the woman to establish she is a lifelong lesbian) and hit several historical moments (discovering yourself in your identity in NYC through a son, AIDS through same son, getting to see same sex marriage legalized), and ends with the joy of two old lesbians finally getting married like they've always wanted to be. Yes, there is drama and darkness, but it's still a wonderful life to watch unfold. Worth your time when it comes out next February.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was a stunning and beautiful novel that spanned many decades and gave a wonderful look at what it’s like to live as a gay person through all those years. I fell in love with Ruth and Sylvie. I was just swept away but their bond and at times I was worried of the outcome. I loved the raw and real look at AIDS and also the relatable look at how family members can react to the coming out of people. Such an unforgettable story. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
October 9, 2026
Thank you NetGalley for the arc! I thought this book was good but there were times that I felt the book was a tad slow and slightly repetitive. That said I think it showcased the struggles of being gay in a time when it was not socially acceptable. In the beginning of the book there was heavy emphasis on the main characters being Jewish but then somewhere towards the middle of the book that just stops except for phrases that the characters use. Overall I think this was a great read for anyone wanting to learn more about the struggles of the LGBTQ+ communities of the past.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
As an intern at HarperCollins, I had the privilege of reading this book over the summer. There are simply no words for how much it touched me. The storyline is genius, and I was not able to think about anything else for weeks after reading. It is such a beautifully told story of queer love, and it was so striking to take in as a 21-year-old realizing how recent all of this “history” really is. l’m recommending this book to all of my friends when it officially comes out!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was really good! It took me a little while to get into, as Ruth's first romance with Irene seemed kind of flat, but once the book jumped ahead to her adult life I got really into it! Ruth and Sylvie had well developed characters, and I liked seeing the ways their ability to be open about their relationship shifted through the decades.
August 19, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy!
This book was beautiful, and painful and just overall a pure joy to read! Getting to experience Ruth’s life from sexuality discovery, dealing with an unaccepting world and all the heartbreak that came with that, all the way to a happy ending just made me have all the feels! Everyone needs to read this book!
This book was beautiful, and painful and just overall a pure joy to read! Getting to experience Ruth’s life from sexuality discovery, dealing with an unaccepting world and all the heartbreak that came with that, all the way to a happy ending just made me have all the feels! Everyone needs to read this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
4.75
Setting: New York
Rep: Jewish lesbian protagonist and love interest
This was such a beautiful book. I loved it far more than I was expecting to - Ruth and Sylvie got right under my skin. Absolutely loved the portrayal of sapphic desire in the 50s and 80s, and the way Harris built up the relationship. A wonderful book.
Setting: New York
Rep: Jewish lesbian protagonist and love interest
This was such a beautiful book. I loved it far more than I was expecting to - Ruth and Sylvie got right under my skin. Absolutely loved the portrayal of sapphic desire in the 50s and 80s, and the way Harris built up the relationship. A wonderful book.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This was messy and real and heartwarming and beautiful. Wife & Wife follows a sapphic love story across decades of a changing social landscape, never shying away from the dishonest things these characters did in order to live more honestly as themselves. I cringed, I cried, and I rooted for these characters. What a privilege it is to love out loud. I can’t recommend enough.
August 7, 2026
You know what? This could be on par with Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. PHENOMENAL.
A huge thank you to publisher William Morrow and NetGalley for allowing me to experience this Advanced Reader’s Copy before the public gets to indulge early 2027!
A huge thank you to publisher William Morrow and NetGalley for allowing me to experience this Advanced Reader’s Copy before the public gets to indulge early 2027!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
i really enjoyed this slow burn. this is such a perfect book club book, a lot of reading between the lines and picking up on the subtleties
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for providing me with this ARC!!
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for providing me with this ARC!!
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
absolutely stunning!! I tore through this beautifully written decade spanning love story in a few days and can’t wait for more people to get their hand on it. for lovers of Almost Life - Ruth and Sylvie’s story was so beautiful
August 2, 2026
Full review to come, but…oh my god. Breathtaking.
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