Mrs. Kimble: A Novel

“Beautiful, devastating and complex.” —Chicago Tribune

The award-winning debut novel from Jennifer Haigh, author of BakerTowers, The Condition, and Faith, tells the story of Birdie, Joan,and Dinah, three women who marry the same charismatic, predatory, and enigmaticopportunist: Ken Kimble. Resonating with emotional intensity and narrativeinnovation reminiscent of Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, and Zora Neale Hurston’s TheirEyes Were Watching God, Haigh’s Mrs. Kimble is a timeless story ofgrief, passion, heartache, deception, and the complex riddle of love. |

In her masterful first novel Mrs. Kimble, Jennifer Haigh delivers the compelling story of three women who marry the same man -- an enigmatic opportunist named Ken Kimble.

Birdie. 1961.

He was the choir director at a Southern Bible college. At practice she followed his hands with her eyes. Watching him, she thought of the Pietà: Mary weeping over her son's crucified body, his naked arms smooth as milk, his chest delicately ribbed like the underside of a flower. She imagined his shoulders bare beneath his shirt, his body long and white. One evening he approached her after practice.

Joan. 1969.

She met him at a pool party in Florida. His lank dark hair hung to his shoulders; he wore faded jeans and a colorful cotton blouse. His eyes were a startling blue. No man had touched her in a year. He was engaged to someone else.

Dinah. 1979

They met by accident in Washington, D.C. Their paths had intersected once before, when she was a teenager. "You're a beautiful girl," he'd told her, oblivious to the hideous scar on her face. He was old enough to be her father.

Kimble is revealed through the eyes of the women he seduces: his first wife, Birdie Bell, who struggles to hold herself together in the months following his desertion; his second wife, Joan Cohen, a lonely heiress shaken by personal tragedy, who sees in Kimble her last chance at happiness; and finally Dinah Whitacre, a beautiful but damaged woman half his age. Woven throughout is the story of Kimble's son, Charlie, whose life is forever affected by a father he barely remembers. Ken Kimble is a chameleon, a man able to become, at least for a while, all things to all women. To each of the three Mrs. Kimbles, he appears as a hero to whom powerful needs and nameless longings may be attached. Only later do they glimpse the truth about this elusive, unknowable man.

A captivating exploration of human love, marriage, and the illusions upon which it is founded, Mrs. Kimble presents a fascinating psychological portrait of a mesmerizing opportunist and the women who believe in him. Beautifully wrought, stunningly original, Jennifer Haigh's sparkling debut marks the arrival of a remarkable new talent.

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“The talent evident in this novel is stunning. The question is not whether Haigh might turn out to be a good writer. Rather, we have the intriguing possibility that the next great American author is already in print.” - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“An affecting tale of the power of a charismatic predator and the acquiesence of his victims…sharply observed.” - Boston Globe

“I read Jennifer Haigh’s novel straight through. . . caught up in the world of three women who marry the same duplicitous man. . . . The Mrs. Kimbles are hard to put down.” - USA Today

“Hard to put down.” - USA Today

“At turns beautiful, devastating and complex, Mrs. Kimble explores the interplay between deception and vulnerability, betraying Haigh’s ambitious talent in the process.” - Chicago Tribune

“Clever…Haigh has certainly succeeded in creating a trio of memorable characters. The three Mrs. Kimbles—a deserted housewife, a frustrated feminist and a disappointed mother—present the whole gamut of family values gone awry.” - Washington Post Book World

“Luminous...A beautiful novel with memorable vibrant characters.” - Booklist

“Vivid and moving…The book’s detail-packed, omniscient point of view makes it a guilty pleasure for readers who love to snoop on the woman next door. . . . Mrs. Kimble exists as a work of unique poignancy. Read it to grieve with its characters, to sit with them as they struggle to go on in their troubled worlds, and to cheer them when they somehow find the way.” - Buffalo News

“Haigh has created three women undermined by their own vulnerabilities, and their stories raise the ageless questions of why smart women do stupid things; why good women are drawn to bad men. Haigh can only suggest the answers, but she makes you understand why these three women all were eager to become the wives of the mysterious Mr. Kimble.” - Hartford Courant