The Manual for Good Wives Audiobook By Lola Jaye cover art

The Manual for Good Wives

A Powerful and Heartbreaking Novel About Love, Family and Reclaiming Black British History

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection of titles.
Yours as long as you’re a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for $8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Manual for Good Wives

By: Lola Jaye
Narrated by: Natalie Simpson, Precious Mustapha
Try Standard free

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.02

Buy for $15.02

'The Manual For Good Wives, a fast-paced tale of courage and resilience is beautifully written and remarkably moving. An absolute masterpiece' - Mike Gayle, author of All the Lonely People

'Simply brilliant' - Alexandra Potter, bestselling author of Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up

*****

Everything about Adeline Copplefield is a lie . . .

To the world Mrs Copplefield is the epitome of Victorian propriety: an exemplary society lady who writes a weekly column advising young ladies on how to be better wives.

Only Adeline has never been a good wife or mother; she has no claim to the Copplefield name, nor is she an English lady . . .

Now a black woman, born in Africa, who dared to pretend to be something she was not, is on trial in the English courts with all of London society baying for her blood. And she is ready to tell her story . . .

From the author of The Attic Child, Lola Jaye, comes a powerful dual narrative historical novel. The Manual for Good Wives is about love, generational trauma, second chances and hope.

*****

'An unforgettable voice within a breathtaking story about love, lineage, and the intergenerational effect of bravery in the face of misfortune' - Jessica George, author of Diverse Book Awards winning My Name is Maame

'Poignant, captivating and thoroughly enjoyable' - The Yorkshire Times

 African American Historical Historical Fiction Victorian Marriage

Critic reviews

I couldn’t put this book down. Simply brilliant (Alexandra Potter, bestselling author of Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up)
The Manual For Good Wives, a fast-paced tale of courage and resilience is beautifully written and remarkably moving. An absolute masterpiece. (Mike Gayle, author of All the Lonely People)
Powerful historical fiction that brims with bravery, hope and heritage
Poignant, captivating and thoroughly enjoyable
Lola has effortlessly embedded an unforgettable voice within a breath-taking story about love, lineage, and the intergenerational effect of bravery in the face of misfortune. I loved it! (Jessica George, author of Diverse Book Awards winning My Name Is Maame)
It's huge and sweeping in scope, yet succinctly written and pacy . . . I was breathless with Temi's adventures! It's a really wonderful, thought-provoking story with a fabulous, memorable heroine at its heart. (Tracy Rees, author of The Rose Garden)
Poignant, captivating and thoroughly enjoyable
A gripping story of love, loss and the determination to survive and indeed thrive. It made me shudder, it made me cheer, at times I was on the edge of my seat, but most of all I felt so proud of our heroine and what she achieved despite the odds. (Florence Olajide, author of The Stolen Daughter)
A gripping story of friendship, family, betrayal, loss and survival
I was definitely in tears by the end! There is so much to say about this story. Lola Jaye has given us such a creative way of examining privilege, identity, trauma and whiteness in both eras (Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish) on The Attic Child)
Her writing is on another level, with characters and a story that grab you from the first page and don't let go until the very end. Just brilliant (Dorothy Koomson, author of My Other Husband on The Attic Child)
An incredibly important book giving breath to voices we sadly seldom hear . . . beautifully crafted, [a] compelling story crossing continents and time, which will undoubtedly break your heart but also make it sing (Mike Gayle, author of Dinner for Two on The Attic Child)
Bruising yet hopeful epic novel . . . Emotional and evocative. A powerful tale of trauma, identity and survival
All stars
Most relevant
An enthralling story following two women of different eras, their life changing events, and an unseen history.

Storytelling, character development, realistic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As I listened I let my imagination go where the story lead as the characters came to life.

Enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is my second read from the author.
She uses a similar technique in this book to the one she used in The Attic Child. The book jumps between the past and the present, connecting different generations of the family through a symbol: in this case, Temi's diary and writings. And the author likes connecting Africa to the UK.

My critique of using the two-timeline technique is that, as readers, we end up connecting with one story over another and feel robbed whenever we have to jump to a character we don't like.

I liked Temi's side of the story. Temi is a princess who ran away from the marriage she had in Nigeria to the UK with her lover.
The book was enjoyable, but there were times when I felt it was dragging a bit and could have been shorter.

The narrator was also very good - especially the one narrating Temi's side of the story.

The narration for the modern day felt a bit annoying, especially when she kept saying “great, great, great grandmother”😬

Enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.