Mrs. Kimble: A Novel

“At turns beautiful, devastating and complex, Mrs. Kimble explores the interplay between deception and vulnerability.” —Chicago Tribune

The award-winning debut novel from Jennifer Haigh, author of Baker Towers, The Condition, and Faith, tells the story of Birdie, Joan, and Dinah, three women who marry the same charismatic, predatory, and enigmatic opportunist: Ken Kimble. Resonating with emotional intensity and narrative innovation reminiscent of Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, Haigh’s Mrs. Kimble is a timeless story of grief, passion, heartache, deception, and the complex riddle of love.

A chameleon, an enigma, all things to all women—a lifeline to which powerful needs and nameless longings may be attached—Ken Kimble is revealed through the eyes of the women he seduces: Birdie, his first wife, struggling to hold herself together after his desertion; his second wife, Joan, a lonely, tragic heiress who sees her unknowable husband as her last chance for happiness; and Dinah, a beautiful but damaged woman half his age.

“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