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A review by bandherbooks
A Midnight Feast by Emma Barry, Genevieve Turner
5.0
I finally broke A Midnight Feast out of my emergency file and hello perfect, angsty novella.
The authors truly explore this marriage in trouble with exquisitely shattering interior thoughts between perfect on the outside wife Margie, mother of six, head of the astronaut wives club and her husband Mitch. The plot device of the absolute terror of being alone with one's longtime partner/husband with all the children out of the house and none of the guests coming over to buffer the distance and coldness that has grown between you, whew. I felt this in my bones and soul.
Also captured so well is how the miscommunication trope is so actually true and so absolutely devastating, especially as we the readers are privy to Mitch's innermost thoughts and desires, the ones he has no idea how to express to his wife, the woman he still very much loves. He NOTICES her, the patriarchy and society and his career have just made it almost impossible for him to be open with her, to be honest. He takes all of his cues from her, and Margie has slowly closed her heart, and her bed (gosh hearing how he still tried to touch her, and then the two twin beds showed up, devastating). I'm going to use devastating a lot in this review.
And Margie, who knows how terrible marriages can go, is so grateful her marriage is solid, if without passion and honesty. She has no evidence of but believes Mitch must be having affairs; so many of the men do. She's just Margie. Just the quiet one propping up Mitch's entire career, his children, his lifestyle, his home. Keeping the heart warm on the home front. Never letting herself be fragile, scared, or emotional except in her one sanctuary, her bedroom.
All of these tensions leading up to Thanksgiving and after, juxtaposed with Margie & Mitch falling in love in the 50s is exquisitely wrought and achingly beautiful in both the historic and emotional details.
I could go on forever, but if you read one historical novella ever, this is the one.
CW: perceived infidelity (none has happened), cold marriage
The authors truly explore this marriage in trouble with exquisitely shattering interior thoughts between perfect on the outside wife Margie, mother of six, head of the astronaut wives club and her husband Mitch. The plot device of the absolute terror of being alone with one's longtime partner/husband with all the children out of the house and none of the guests coming over to buffer the distance and coldness that has grown between you, whew. I felt this in my bones and soul.
Also captured so well is how the miscommunication trope is so actually true and so absolutely devastating, especially as we the readers are privy to Mitch's innermost thoughts and desires, the ones he has no idea how to express to his wife, the woman he still very much loves. He NOTICES her, the patriarchy and society and his career have just made it almost impossible for him to be open with her, to be honest. He takes all of his cues from her, and Margie has slowly closed her heart, and her bed (gosh hearing how he still tried to touch her, and then the two twin beds showed up, devastating). I'm going to use devastating a lot in this review.
And Margie, who knows how terrible marriages can go, is so grateful her marriage is solid, if without passion and honesty. She has no evidence of but believes Mitch must be having affairs; so many of the men do. She's just Margie. Just the quiet one propping up Mitch's entire career, his children, his lifestyle, his home. Keeping the heart warm on the home front. Never letting herself be fragile, scared, or emotional except in her one sanctuary, her bedroom.
All of these tensions leading up to Thanksgiving and after, juxtaposed with Margie & Mitch falling in love in the 50s is exquisitely wrought and achingly beautiful in both the historic and emotional details.
I could go on forever, but if you read one historical novella ever, this is the one.
CW: perceived infidelity (none has happened), cold marriage