51 pages • 1-hour read
Happy Wife
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Chapters 25-35Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section includes discussion of substance use, cursing, and domestic violence.
Chapter 25 Summary
In a flashback, due to Will’s busy work schedule, Nora begins to spend more and more time with Este and Beau. Although Nora is grateful to have them, she is also jealous of their easy intimacy and the fact that they get to spend all of their time together. When Nora returns home from these evenings, she walks by Will’s office, desperate for him to pay attention to her. He always keeps working.
One night, Nora, Este, and Beau are joined by Marcus, a local chef and childhood friend of Beau. Nora is instantly attracted to Marcus, who seems to reciprocate and invites her to visit his restaurant. That night, Nora does not walk by Will’s office, but goes straight to bed, waiting for him to come to her. She is furious when he does not.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Six Days After”
In the present, party-planner Autumn reveals that Constance was alone on the night Will disappeared, and that she felt like Nora dethroned her as Will’s wife by throwing a successful birthday party. Nora begins to suspect that Constance may have been involved in Will’s disappearance.
As Nora is apologizing to Este for their fight, police arrive with news that Will’s body was found in a nearby canal and identified by Fritz. Nora is shocked to see that Fritz is in crisis mode, rather than grieving, and that Detective Ardell is regarding her as a suspect. Alone in her house, she begins to laugh, unable to believe that such a powerful man could have such an awful ending.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Before”
In a flashback, Nora’s resentment over Will’s busy work schedule causes her to pick frequent fights with him. As a result, she begins avoiding the house when he is working from home, spending her evenings with Este or walking around the city. Nora receives a call from her mother Ramona, and considers confiding in her. However, Ramona’s self-centered nature prevents Nora from speaking.
Nora decides to stop at Lemon & Fig, the restaurant owned by Este’s friend Marcus. Marcus makes her a personalized four-course tasting menu with a wine pairing, and they talk late into the night. Nora reveals her troubled childhood and marriage woes to Marcus. They almost kiss in the parking lot, but Marcus sends her home.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Seven Days After”
In the present, as Nora struggles to accept Will’s death, she is shocked to find that she is the new center of the Winter Park social circle. People who previously called her names bring her food and flowers, sharing their memories of Will. Nora feels as if they are stealing her grief. She is infuriated by Fritz’s business-like attitude to the financial and legal consequences of Will’s death.
TV host Lindy Bedford publicly suggests that Nora may be responsible for Will’s disappearance, citing the fact that she didn’t call the police immediately and that she got Botox the day she filed the report. Marcus arrives with food and sends Este home, promising to take care of Nora.
Chapter 29 Summary
Nora wakes to find that Marcus has cooked her an elaborate dinner. She is grateful for his company but resents the fact that he and the rest of the Winter Park social circle feel they have to do things for her after Will’s death. She feels as if she is alone in her grief.
Marcus opens an expensive bottle of wine and jokes to lighten the mood, infuriating Nora. She accuses him of taking advantage of her grief to make a pass at her. When Marcus insists he’s trying to be friendly, she claims that they were never friends, and that their relationship was inappropriate. Marcus storms out.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Before”
In a flashback, Marcus begins stopping by Este and Beau’s house more frequently, joining them for dinner with Nora. Nora is delighted when Will suggests they go out to dinner, but her excitement fades when she learns Will’s partner Fritz and his wife Gianna will be there. Nora arranges for the dinner to be held at Marcus’s restaurant, Lemon & Fig.
Gianna is rude throughout the dinner, and Nora senses tension between Fritz and Will. On the drive home, Will refuses to discuss the source of the tension and asks questions about Nora’s relationship with Marcus. She is furious about his refusal to defend her in front of Gianna.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Eight Days After”
In the present, Nora searches the dock and boat for clues about Will’s disappearance. She realizes that the water at their dock is shallow enough that Will could have walked out if he had fallen in while conscious.
Later, Autumn appears with a warning that Constance and Gianna plan to ambush her and hijack the planning of Will’s funeral. Gianna reveals that she and Fritz are hosting a funeral reception at their country club, and that Constance has arranged for a church to host a funeral. Nora feels left out, but Autumn ensures that she has a place in the funeral. Nora grows increasingly suspicious of Constance.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Ten Days After”
Autumn arranges for Nora to have professional hair and makeup services on the day of Will’s funeral. Nora rides to the funeral with Este and Beau, who seem unsure of what to say to her. Mia graciously holds both Nora and Constance’s hands as the three walk down the aisle of the church to their seats in front of Will’s urn.
Nora is infuriated when Fritz’s eulogy positions himself as the foundation of Will’s professional success, and she resents Constance and Gianna for not allowing her to speak. Marcus gives Nora a lingering hug after the funeral, attracting the attention of Detective Ardell.
Chapter 33 Summary
Nora drinks heavily throughout the funeral reception. She receives dirty looks from Constance, who is no longer pretending to be kind after leaving the church.
Will’s secretary Lenore reveals that Will and Fritz had been frequently fighting about their law firm. When Nora asks about the Martinez case, a case she heard Gianna mention at dinner, Lenore confirms that the case was the source of their argument. Nora begins to panic, and sneaks out of the reception. Marcus follows her, and attempts to comfort her. Nora notices Detective Ardell watching them.
Later, Perry Conroy visits to admit he found no information about what Dean Morrison was investigating for Will. Nora’s grief finally hits her, and she jumps into the lake.
Chapter 34 Summary: “Before”
In a flashback, desperate to spend time with Will, Nora offers to cook him his favorite meal: short ribs with polenta. She wears his favorite dress and sets their dining table in celebration. She is not surprised when Will is late but is furious when he admits that he ate a late lunch and is not hungry. Will explains that he didn’t really think she was going to cook.
Nora accuses Will of neglecting her, and Will responds that he is fighting to save his job and all of the luxuries that they enjoy as a result of it. The fight turns violent as Will throws a lead tumbler full of bourbon at Nora before storming out.
Chapter 35 Summary
Nora storms out of her house and drives around aimlessly, desperate for Will to call and apologize. As a thunderstorm breaks out, she hits a pothole and blows a tire. After crying for several minutes, she calls Marcus to come pick her up. Marcus takes her to his house, explaining that they won’t be able to get a tow truck until the morning.
Nora confides in Marcus about her marriage problems, saying she feels like an interloper in Will’s life. Marcus retorts that she is an insider. He invites her to spend the night in his guest room. The next morning, Will has still not tried to contact Nora. She is so angry that she does not notice that Este sees Marcus dropping her off.
Chapters 25-35 Analysis
This section of the novel is dominated by flashbacks showing how Nora’s relationship with Marcus grew as her marriage to Will floundered, once more shaping The Complex Nature of Grief in the present timeline. In these chapters, Marcus and Will act as foils for each other, with Marcus offering Nora the attention and companionship Will neglects to provide. The comparison between Marcus and Will is most explicit in the chapters describing the meals Nora shares with each man. In Chapters 27 and 29, Marcus cooks elaborate meals for Nora to demonstrate his affection for her: first, when they initially become friends, and then after she learns that Will is dead. In Chapter 34, Nora cooks an elaborate meal for Will in an attempt to spend more time with him. Will arrives late to the dinner and doesn’t eat, leading to a fight that ends violently. The differences between these two dinners highlight the differences in the men, suggesting that Marcus is caring and gentle while Will is inconsiderate and even abusive when Nora is not compliant enough to his demands.
The novel’s description of Nora’s first meeting with Marcus suggests that she was attracted to him immediately, just like when she first met Will. When she introduces herself to Marcus, Nora is forced to remind herself that she is “Will’s Nora” (151), and she makes a conscious effort to stop “getting sloppy and flirting” (153) with him. Although she tries to convince herself that she is drawn to Marcus because she is “lonely” and “starved for attention” (153, 168), Nora is ultimately forced to admit that “being with Marcus was like being under a spell” (173). The intensity of Nora’s crush on Marcus recalls the speedy nature of her relationship with Will.
However, the novel also suggests that Nora is drawn to Marcus specifically because he is unlike Will. Nora feels like her relationship with Will is “transactional” and that a year of marriage has turned her into “a satellite orbiting him, circling him. Waiting on him” (150). On the other hand, she describes Marcus as “so laid-back and easy to be around” (166). With Will, Nora feels that she always has to be performing the role of wife. As a result, she loves the fact that “Marcus has an incredible ability to just wait […] to give space” for Nora to be herself (184).
She also notices that Marcus seems interested in her feelings and opinions in a way Will is not. While Will speaks to Nora “like [she] was stupid and […] too naïve to understand the real world” (218), Marcus takes Nora’s interests seriously, and he is the first person to ask a follow-up question when she mentions going back to school. Ultimately, the novel’s comparison between Will and Marcus depicts Marcus more favorably, suggesting that he is more genuinely interested in Nora than Will, and that Nora’s marriage is not as idyllic as she had hoped it would be, thus complicating her reactions to Will’s disappearance.
After learning that her husband’s body has been found, Nora plunges into deep denial. She tells Este that she is going to have to hear the news repeatedly before it will set in: “[S]omeone is going to have to tell me multiple times. Maybe for years. I might never believe it” (160). Nora’s denial is based in her strong belief in her husband’s excellence, which is slightly contradicted by her earlier complaints about their relationship. In one striking passage, Nora claims, “Will Somerset doesn’t die […] he passes gently into the eternal, shrouded in dignity like some fucked-up American Gothic bullshit” (160). The rare use of profanity and odd imagery here suggests that Nora is in an extreme mental state. Later, she describes the idea of Will’s body being found in a canal as “the most absurd thing [she’s] ever heard” (161). Nora’s extreme denial reflects the complex nature of her grief, which prevents her from thinking clearly.
The reaction of the Winter Park social circle to Nora’s grief suggests that grief is difficult for outsiders to handle, invoking The Power of Cliques as Nora struggles to deal with the inauthenticity and awkwardness of the people around her. On the day of Will’s funeral, Autumn hires professional hair and makeup artists to make Nora look more presentable. Nora notices that her grief seems to be “making everyone a little queasy” (175) and questions why it is “objectionable, when mourning, to look the part?” (175). Later, she describes her grief as “the monster no one wants to get too close to” (184). The Winter Park circle’s disdain for Nora’s public displays of grief reinforce the sense of the wealthy circle’s superficiality and lack of genuine compassion for Nora, with Nora suspecting that even seemingly kind gestures—e.g., the deliveries of flowers and food—are mere empty shows, once more leaving her feeling like an outsider.
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