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Andra Thornburg, a rude and arrogant socialite, is married to 28-year-old Tanner, who’s vying to become the next mayor of New York City. Though she and her father have guided him on this political path, Tanner isn’t happy in his marriage. In fact, he wants a divorce. He plans the perfect time and place to tell Andra—over dinner at a favorite restaurant. Finally gaining the courage, he expresses his feelings. Andra is shocked and maintains that she loves him, but Tanner knows the truth. Not unlike her mother, “she would rather live a life of fame and fortune than love and happiness.”
On her way home, Andra is kidnapped. After driving for hours, she snatches the door handle, causing her kidnapper to grab her and lose control of the car. After the accident, she finds herself suffering from amnesia, living on the streets of Detroit, and going by the name of Andie. She doesn’t remember her life before Detroit or what brought her there, but she learns how to survive the streets—an enormous contrast to her former life in New York. Meanwhile, Tanner, possibly ridden with guilt, begins desperately searching for her.
A decade later, Andra is found through her fingerprints, after being arrested for shoplifting. She’s taken back to New York to try to resume her life as the wife of Tanner Thornburg, who’s now the governor of New York. After ten years of homelessness, though, can she become the wife of a politician? Will New Yorkers empathize or condemn her for her actions while living on the streets? Most importantly, can her husband learn to love this new person, though he fell out of love with the old one?
Though it’s very well-written, The Governor’s Wife let me down. Forget about the unbelievably young age of a major city mayor for now. The premise is actually interesting, but it could have been filled with some twists and turns. This novel will entertain romantics who seek a clear resolution and characters who are black-and-white. Unfortunately, though, life isn’t that clean. The jaded cynic in me wanted more believable protagonists who possessed both decent and evil traits and who were sometimes forced to behave in unsavory ways. For example, it’s made quite clear that Andie never turned to prostitution, even at the worst of times. So what if she had? That would have added a bit more to the plot, and readers would have forgiven her anyway. Also, upon returning to New York, Andra suddenly has empathy for Tanner and decides that she’s willing to go back to the Detroit streets so she won’t hurt his chances for reelection. I found that hard to believe, since I would think that the survival instinct for such an unfortunate soul would still be overwhelming, even months and months after the fact.
Even so, The Governor’s Wife is a pleasant novel for those who desire something quick and uncomplicated to read. It may just teach you a lesson about what’s really important in life.
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