The Second Woman

by Charlotte Philby

‘A timely, gripping and morally complex thriller’ MAIL ON SUNDAY




Two women are found dead.


Both had a secret.


Both had a choice.

Artemis leaves her home in Greece to start a shiny new life with her wealthy husband, Clive Witherall, in 1990s London. Finally she has escaped the ghosts of her past. Until she is discovered hanging from the stairs of their beautiful family home.


Two decades later, the apparent suicide of heiress Anna Witherall uncannily mirrors Artemis’ mysterious death.


What is the web of deceit that binds these two women? And what deadly secrets were they hiding?



‘Philby is a skilled and evocative writer’ FINANCIAL TIMES




‘Seriously stylish’ LUCY FOLEY



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‘I’m addicted to the deadly glamour of Charlotte Philby’s novels’ ERIN KELLY


‘Gripping’ CRIME MONTHLY


‘A page-turning thriller … Philby has created a new sort of spy novel – approaching this world of skulduggery and intrigue from an entirely unique perspective. This is a clever, gripping, unsettling and thoroughly entertaining read’ HOLLY WATT


‘Her thrillers have been a game-changer for the spy novel’ DAILY EXPRESS  


‘A gripping novel that spans decades and continents’ DAILY MIRROR


‘A stylish, heart-racing thriller’ YOU MAGAZINE, MAIL ON SUNDAY 


‘Brilliant’ BELLA MAGAZINE


Following on from Part of the Family and A Double Life, this finely worked novel concludes Charlotte Philby’s triptych about the choices women might make when under pressure’ THE TIMES

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 8, 2021

Reviews

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Second Woman is haunting and evocative, a beautifully written and complex drama that is far more than the sum of its parts.

This is a novel with women at the heart of it – their lives, their choices, their consequences. Moving between past and present seamlessly, Charlotte Philby builds the emotional tension with pitch perfect resonance, at the same time managing to twist perception and keep you wondering what might happen.

The characters here are vibrant and real, the story itself utterly gripping, with a high level of intrigue and a genuinely unpredictable sense to it. It is a novel to absorb and one you will think about for a long time after its over.

Highly Recommended.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two Women, two deaths two decades apart, two timelines and two locations. Similarities and many, many secrets and lies. Is anyone telling the truth ?
I enjoyed this highly complex thriller and really had to pay attention to the variety of characters, who was who and where they fitted in.
A good read, which I recommend.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

With hindsight, I think I would have been better off reading the first books in this series (Part of the Family and A Double Life) before this one, The Second Woman. I might then have been more clued up with the characters in this tricky tale. The story moves between the ’80s and the present day, following the characters of Artemis and Clive Witherall in Greece who move to London in the '90s. British born Clive is a successful entrepreneur but there are problems with the business and then a series of events result in Artemis hanging from the stairs in their home. In the present day, Anna is found hanging in her home in similar circumstances to Artemis. There is an inquest into Anna's death which leads to National Crime Agency officer Madeleine Farrow delving into a spiders web of deceit.

This story about family, betrayal and love is complex and sometimes bewildering but it's really well written and worth reading. It explores two women's choices how those decisions lead to their decease. There are some terrific twists and manipulation is not in short supply. A delightful, haunting tale.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from HarperCollins UK via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

[Esther Bultitude · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had read Charlotte’s previous novel, but with hindsight I think I needed to read the first one in this series (part of the family) to have been able to fully understand all the characters within this complex book.

The story flicks back and forth between the 80’s and the present day, intertwining the characters of Artemis and Clive Witherall in Greece and their daughter in laws death and subsequent inquest in the present day.

The link between them is an NCA officer Madeleine, a friend of Gabriela from the previous novel.

This is a story about family, betrayal and love. Highly complex and twisty and confusing at times, but well written and worth a read.

If you want to fully emerge yourself in the story I’d recommend reading part of the family and a double life first.

[Steph Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

As others have said, I was quite confused by this book. I did read it quickly, and I felt the story has a lot of potential but the end result is that this book is meh. It jumps too much between characters, and time. I struggled to wrap my head around who was who as we were introduced to so many people. I haven't read the previous book, and I don't think I will. My questions aren't about what happened before, but what happened after.
What the hell did Harry do? I still don't understand why he helped Clive kill Anna, what did Clive have on him apart from Harry sleeping with a minor??
And also, how dare you do that to Maria?? I get that she wasnt careful and she would've been caught, but why didn't MI6 help put her in protection like they did for Gabriela? Why did Felicity drop her (I guess that might be a question that would've been answered in the previous books), and why after so many chapters about Maria, why didn't we get a chapter about her death? I connected with this character the most, and to just give her a one sentence death is horrible.
Honestly, don't think I'll read from this author again.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so wanted to like this. Unfortunately, even though I'd read the earlier books, this one, which is highly dependent on them, I felt at sea. That's in part due to the fact that it moves around all over the place in time and space and between characters: Artemis, Harry, Madeline, before Anna's death, after Anna's death, Greece, London and so on. There are evil Russians, there are Greeks, there are Brits. I kept holding out hope that things would click for me but even though I'm a veteran reader of complicated novels this one, well this was just too much work for too little reward. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC.

[Michael Hassel Shearer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Second Woman by Charlotte Philby
This is Ms. Philby’s 3rd espionage/mystery book and I have read the other two as well. The 1st book, I read out of curiosity given her last name. It was a good read, and the books have gotten better from the 2nd to the 3rd with more nuance and character development. This is especially true of the female characters as well Ms. Philby is a woman and thinks like a woman- I suppose. This is very much a positive as most political or espionage novels are written by men and the male characters are the stronger written. In this case it is the women who shine in depth and detail and for me as a male makes for very interesting reading.
If I find one flaw with the book and only occasionally is the constant moving forward and backward over a 40 year time period. One moment we are reading about a woman who is 40 and is murdered and then a short time later we are reading about her birth. Perhaps this flaw would have meant less to me in a paper version of the book. Physically moving forward and backward in a novel to re-read a section is much easier for me with a paper version of the book.
Nonetheless, I recommend this book to anyone- male or female who like a gripping story of love, murder, mystery and a bit of espionage.

[Bookish_Aly_Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good mystery/thriller! I really enjoyed the story of this one and was immediately captivated by the plot. This was a great read!

[Jude Capper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Third of a trilogy which was gripping, but didn’t really work as a stand-alone. I’ve read the first in the series (and remember being irritated by the dangling loose ends) but haven’t read the second yet and that was clearly a mistake.

[Katy The Sleepy Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artemis and Anna, two women who fall in love with Witherall men. Two women who end up dead, by apparent suicides. Why did they kill themselves, or did they?

Artemis lives on an island in Greece. She is a loner, spending her days sketching up by the house she grew up in. Now dilapidated and abandoned. She goes alone because its where her families tragedy occurred years before. An earthquake swallowing her sister into the earth, Artemis only 5 then, unable to save her. It has haunter her ever since. She is there one day when a man approaches her, Clive Witherall. Clive is a successful and secretive, entrepreneur. He has purchased some property nearby and they strike up a relationship. It isn't long before he suggests they have a child together, and they do, a son, David. She has longed to escape the island and when he whisks her away to his mansion in London, at first, she is thrilled. But all too soon she realizes she's trapped. In a foreign country with no one and Clive is constantly working, If he's not traveling for weeks on end, he's holed up in his office at home. As things progress with them and the business, Artemis realizes she must escape this life. She starts to question things and in the end, she's found hanging in their Greek vacation home.

Many years later, David is taken with a woman named Anna. They soon find out that they are pregnant and end up marrying. He has unknowingly married someone who is spying on him. His father warns him but he refuses to believe it. However, as the years go by he sees that she is not who he thought she was.. After the twins are born, Anna appears to struggle with post-partum depression. Eventually David sees that she is a liability and she too is found hanging in her London home.

The story darts back and forth between decades, locations and points of view. As we go between these, we learn of the suspicious natures of their deaths. When an inquest is made into Annas death, we find links to a criminal organization and connections to those involved in gun running and human trafficking. The story itself is intriguing with betrayal and love being a constant theme. With so many moving parts and characters it a highly complex story with lots of twists and turns, this story will keep you entertained for sure. Its the third book in a tryptic series and can be read as a stand alone. I received this book free from NetGalley for an honest review and will be available February 15, 2022.

[Maria Simson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the plot but was there too much going on? YES! The beginning was very strong and the book definitely had me intrigued from the first couple of chapters but there were so many characters and so many twists and turns that it was really hard for me to keep up. I was confused because the story wasn't told in chronological order causing a lot of back and forth. If there weren't a lot of characters and if all of them didn't play a huge role in the plot then I could've ignored the whole back and forth but since they all played a huge role in the plot, I was kind of confused. But overall, I really enjoyed it!

[Chloe (libraryofchlo)]

At the heart of this novel is the death of two women, and their apparent suicides have more in common making the circumstances even more eerie. We flit between perspectives to learn about the suspicious circumstances of Artemis' and Anna's deaths. The investigation involving Anna's links to a criminal cartel and cases surrounding human trafficking, National Crime Agency officer Madeleine Farrow begins to delve into the intriguing world of deceit surrounding the two women.

Artemis, a Greek native, moves to London in the 1990s to be with her British husband Clive, a successful entrepreneur. She is escaping demons that plagued her on the remove island she grew up in, including a man who assaulted her and a jealous friend, and starting a new life in love. Clive and Artemis have a child together David, however things start to go awry as Clive is an absentee father and Artemis begins to miss the close proximity of her family and the familiar scenes of her Greek upbringing. Despite her pleas, Clive is adamant that they cannot move back to Greece permanently due to his business. The business starts to cause problems between the pair, and one of his business associates is the man she was trying to escape. A series of events result in her hanging from the stairs in her London home.

In the present day, Anna is found hanging in her home too. There's an ongoing inquest into the death beautiful heiress with two children who was married to David - child of Artemis and Clive. Their marriage held its secrets and she was caught prying into the family business. Perhaps she knew more than she should, but also what else is she hiding? When a family legacy has been disturbed, can it really be preserved and mended, especially if you've learnt it's built on lies?

With disarming roguish characters, we see manipulation and secrecy at play as each of the characters is seemingly more involved than meets the eye. I did find the many threads of the plot a little complex to follow and at times felt confused, but nonetheless this is gripping with compelling, chilling twists right up until the final pages especially as you witness deceit and betrayal firsthand. It's a clever look at the lives of two seemingly unlinked women and how the choices and decisions they made - including to become involved with Witherall men - led to their demise. Certainly a story I'm still thinking about even if I'm still a bit perplexed by the final outcome and how exactly every perspective we read about is involved.


*Huge thank you to the Harper Fiction team for sending me a copy as part of their showcase event

[Chloe Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think this book is bad, I just don’t think it was for me. I waited and waited for a great conclusive twisty ending after battling through the complicated and confusing changes between people and location and time and I was disappointed. So disappointed I barely remember what happened. So much work and little reward for me. I picked it up at random at the library and I read it as a stand alone.

[Susan Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very complicated - not a book to be read in little bits as I literally lost the plot. A complex story set in London and Greece full of rather unpleasant, corrupt and ruthless people. Nobody is good, not even the heroines! Will read more of this author but need a little break to recover

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars for somehow continuing to confuse me and being too repetitive. That right there readers might be the key to the whole series, how does the same information span over three books still make you go hmmm? 5 stars because I was engrossed, a quick read.

[Lesley Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may be cutting the author a little short, however, the plot and mixed timelines were a little too labyrinthine for my frazzled end of day reading brain.

[Lexi · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.0*)

The Second Woman by Charlotte Philby follows two women, two deaths, from two different timelines. It is a very complex and detailed story, that tells a haunting, thrilling tale full of choices that could have been made and tons of secrets are revealed.

It is actually the third book in a series. Which, I would never knowingly select book three in a series as my place to start, but I was unaware that this book was not a standalone (as it doesn’t state it’s part of a series on Goodreads nor Netgalley). That being said, it does change things a little; it explains why it was a little more complex and tricky to follow in some areas.

Other than that, I believe having two different timelines/narratives in a story is something I will always be drawn to and I am always willing to check out how an author executed it. And I will say this one is done well enough to show similarities and differences between the two timelines.

When looking more into this being third in a series , I concluded that Charlotte Philby did indeed write two books prior to this (Part of the Family and A Double Life), but both books actually follow different women, but yet, they do still connect to one another in slight areas. So to me, it sounds that it would fine as a stand-alone. The Times said, “Following on from Part of the Family and A Double Life, this finely worked novel concludes Charlotte Philby’s triptych about the choices women might make when under pressure”.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper360 for an ARC in exchange for a review.

[Becci · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this book on audio, which was a big mistake. The narrator was wonderful but the book left me so confused. But looking at other reviews I actually think that's the books problem not the fact it was an audio that I felt like I was missing bits.

I haven't read the previous two books as I was sent this by the publishers.

I had no clue who was who/how they were related /what happened.

It jumped far too much back and forth, and too many characters to keep track. I got that it went Artemis +Clive , their son David and Anna,....then some guy harry was floating about and then other women's names all over the place. People died but the order they died in I couldn't tell you. I couldn't even tell you what happened , who killed who and why ...because I started getting confused my mind started drifting and I did then start missing bits but I didn't care.

I paid for the audio so I finished it.


Maybe if I'd read the first two , I could have gone in knowing some characters and how they related (i.e if they were "modern" day characters)

Maybe if I'd read instead of listened , I might have kept track better.

Also warning there's some uncomfortable scenes towards the end.

[Porcelina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, having already read the novel by the same author, ‘The end of summer’, which was great. This was too confusing! Too many time jumps! Too many characters beginning with A! Artemis! Athena! Anna! Ariana! Every time there is a time jump/ perspective jump, it slows the plot. First half okay but got more fragmented in the second half.
I also found it impossible to believe that Gabriela had an affair with two young kids and then the new partner didn’t know about them and her husband?! All seemed odd. Surely she would have taken the kids to live with the new man too?
What happened to Jorgo? I wanted him to meet a vile end; we never found out.
Was skipping pages near to the end as I just couldn’t engage with all the jumping around.
The author writes very well though, and The End of Summer was fantastic. So if they write a new book, I would want to read it.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too complicated for my liking - swapping between time periods and characters. And it was kind of flat - perhaps because it was so disjointed. I only gave it three stars because I actually made it to the end. I hoped it would all come together for me but that didn't happen. I didn't realise it was one of three but by the sounds of it that wouldn't have made a difference although the author says they stand alone.

[Amanda Woolley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an interwoven web of deceit and crimes that will keep the reader intrigued. At times it felt a little hard to unwind and it really tested my mind trying to decipher everything that was happening. I found it a little slow to get going and almost stopped reading after part one but I am glad I kept going as everything began to be revealed as the story went on, with lots of twists and turns along the way to keep the reader guessing.

[Jessy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that makes it to publishing because the author has a long career as a journalist - and a spy grandfather. The “rave” reviews from British newspapers are favors to a colleague. The language is clumsy, choices and reactions of characters illogical. The novel follows a genre formula fairly well but the execution isn’t up to the standards of the masters of the genre.

[Brenda Hooker · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a DNF for me. I read about half. I could not get involved enough with the characters to care about what really happened. I do not often quit a book, but life is too short to hand in there when I have not really connected with characters and who they are, what they feel and what is going on.

[Sandy Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was the third book in a series. I'm a happy ever after person, so the ending left me disappointed. However, if I had read the first two books to understand the characters better, I might have had a different opinion and also not been so confused at times. I did like the writing, which kept me involved throughout.

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book as a good reads giveaway and I’m so glad that I did. Most thrillers I can predict but this one really had me so confused about what was happening and I just couldn’t figure it out. Loved it!

[Helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a nice solid thriller, bit of a spiders web. the part set in the 80s felt very stylish and intriguing.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling

[Christine Higgs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very confusing to keep up with the now and then. Ending was not the best.

[Kathryn Fathers]

DNF

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The trilogy would make an excellent series as long as ‘continuity’ was safeguarded.
Loved this book, finally came together although my preference was for Double Life and Gabriellas character.