Second Best Wife by Elizabeth Hunter is the same book as The Undesirable Wife by Isobel Chase. The second title is available in large print paperback which I bought without realizing it was the same romance. I enjoy the story under either title.
Plot Synopsis – Click to Skip Spoilers
Georgina’s lovelier, younger sister, Jennifer no longer wants to marry her fiance, William, and sends Georgina to tell him. Jennifer wants to marry Duncan now. William and Georgina have a long, hostile relationship, ever since 10 year old Georgina punched him in the nose for taunting her after she punched out young Duncan for picking on Jennifer. William called her Georgy-Porgie, as in “Georgie Porgie hit the boys and made them cry” mercilessly ever since and continually calls her a bully and complains about her bullying Jennifer. William is 5 years older than Georgina now, and she is 26, so she has lived with the nasty taunts for years.
Georgina has an odd relationship with sister Jennifer. Parents prefer Jennifer and most boys dump Georgina when they spot Jennifer, although Jennifer has very few friends except those who are Georgina’s friends. People like Georgina; she is warm, honest, transparent, while Jennifer is obsessed with her looks and showing up Georgina. William thinks Georgina is jealous of Jennifer when in fact it is the opposite. Their parents prefer Jennifer – as long as Jennifer is present. Her glamour fades with distance.
Georgina feels bad for having the unlovely errand to tell William his fiance has jilted him, but she’s also a bit gleeful that old frenemy is getting his comeuppance. She both likes and dislikes, loves and hates, William and she hasn’t been 100% honest with herself about her feelings. William tells Georgina that she must have bullied Jennifer into dumping him, so she, Georgina, can take her place and marry him.
After all, William has to keep Georgina from bullying Jennifer into dumping Duncan now! “You’ve pushed Jennifer around too long.” “You’d soon be casting an envious eye over Duncan, and we’d all be back where we started, making the best of things after you’ve broken them to pieces. No, Jennifer won’t be safe from you until I have you firmly shackled to my side. I may not be able to give her anything else, but at least I mean to giver her that!”
Georgina first is adamant that she will not marry William, but slowly comes to think it might be good. Her mother has a heart to heart with her that completely surprises Georgina. Her mother doesn’t think she ever bullied Jennifer, and is all in favor of the marriage.
Jennifer gives Georgina a letter, insists she gives it to William on the plane to Sri Lanka (called Ceylon in the novel) after the wedding, absolutely not before. Naïve Georgina follows directions and William is furious. Jennifer in her letter begs him to stay, she’s changed her mind and want to marry him and it’s all Georgina’s fault that they got separated and Georgina did everything she could to get William and keep him from Jennifer and, and, and. Naturally William, being a dummy about the sisters believes Jennifer.
William takes Georgina to Ceylon where he has a job running an engineering project for the British Commonwealth. One reason he wanted a wife was to help with his 20 year old ward, Celine, who appears mentally handicapped and unable to relate to people. Georgina mentions that it’s a good thing he married her and not Jennifer because her sister would not have gladly taken care of another young girl, especially one who isn’t quite right and gorgeous to boot. William shoots this observation down and threatens to take Georgina apart if she harms or bullies Celine. He also tells her that he would like to get rid of Miss Campbell who takes care of Celine, but when Georgina sends Miss Campbell packing the first day, William refuses to back her up and asks Miss Campbell to stay.
Eventually William takes Georgina to bed which they both enjoy and find physically and emotionally satisfying. Georgina discovers that Celine is terrified of some huge puppet masks that Miss Campbell uses to great effect to frighten her and keep her cowed and under control. This time William agrees and Miss Campbell goes.
Things are better. Celine is now alert and functioning and the local tea plantation manager, Stuart, has fallen for her. William of course thinks Stuart is chasing Georgina and that Georgina is flirting and encouraging him which she denies. Otherwise he seems to think better of Georgina than before.
Jennifer writes Georgina that she is coming for a visit and includes a note from their mother. Mom now says she doesn’t have any idea why William would have married Georgina or why Georgina would have broken up the big love affair between Jennifer and William and why would Jennifer think she should marry Duncan. Oh, and poor Jenny. She doesn’t have many friends of her own and Georgina’s don’t come to visit when Georgie isn’t there, even though Mom and Dad think Jenny has far the nicer character. William reads this and asks the humiliated Georgie whether Dad also prefers Jennifer.
Jennifer shows up with Miss Campbell and starts sniping and insulting Georgina. She tells her that their mom doesn’t want Georgina to thwart Jennifer’, i.e., to stop Jennifer from dislodging Georgie from William so he can marry Jennifer and get things back the way they should be. William hears quite a bit of this.
Celine is missing that evening and Georgie forces Jennifer to admit that she and Miss Campbell had met her on the drive up, that Miss Campbell had taken her away and that she, Jennifer, was just as glad because she didn’t like Celine and what was all the fuss about anyway? Jennifer guesses where Celine is and rushes to rescue her – Jennifer makes more nasty comments about Georgie always having to feel she is the one to do the rescuing – and they meet Stuart who found Celine. William kicks Miss Campbell out and Jennifer insults Georgie some more and commiserates with William on having such a lousy wife.
William by this point doesn’t see any need to commiserate about being married to Georgie. He takes her out for the afternoon to a lovely waterfall, apologizes and makes love with Georgie. Happiness ensues.
Characters and Conflicts
The Undesirable Wife is the story of William learning to love Georgina, realizing how wrong he was about her and her sister Jennifer. The first fifth of the book, before they marry, William continually berates Georgina and puts Jennifer on a pedestal.
William doesn’t know Georgina or Jennifer at all. He is blunt: Georgina is a bully, she bullies poor meek Jennifer, she is jealous of Jennifer, she has no friends and certainly no boyfriends because they all desert her for Jennifer, she pushed Jennifer first into agreeing to marry William and later, bullied her to dump William, she inveigled his mother to prefering her over Jennifer only because she “never made the faintest effort even to be kind to her (Jennie)”, she is deceitful, pretends to cherish Jennifer when she is undermining her. Some William pronouncements on Georgie vs. Jennifer make this clear:
- Georgie as Bully
- “Because you’ve bossed the poor girl about unmercifully ever since I’ve known you!”
- “She (Jennifer) was afraid of you.” “If you can black my eye, what could you do to her?”
- “Well, now she’sll see you as you really are, won’t she? As an intemperate, vicious little thug!”
- Georgie as jealous of Jennifer
- “Did you have to break it up? Couldn’t you have contained your jealousy for your sister just this once?
- “I don’t believe anyone else has ever stormed your selfish little heart.”
- “you won’t shift the responsibility on to anyone else, least of all that long-suffering sister of yours. Jealousy is a very nasty thing.
- “Is it Jennifer’s fault that men find her more attractive than they do you?”
- “Because you’re jealous of Jennifer and you hated anyone to like her better than you.”
- Just before Jennifer arrives, about 2/3 of the way through the story, William tells Celine that Georgie never could compete with Jennifer, that Georgie’s pushy and he expects that Jennifer will be kind to Celine and be friends with her.
William is all mixed up about Georgina’s attraction compared to Jennifer’s. He tells Georgie several times that men prefer Jennie (given as a reason for Georgie’s supposed jealousy) and that Jennie takes boyfriends from Georgina, yet he tells Georgie that he suspects she stole Peter (whom she claimed to be semi-engaged to) from Jennifer and that she stole Jennie’s friends and boyfriends.
William’s worst attacks are when he explains to Georgie that he intends to marry her. He believes Georgina is trying to ruin his and Jennifer’s lives by bullying Jennie into dumping him, and he has three reasons to marry Georgie: to punish her, to keep her from breaking up Jennifer and Duncan and inflicting her bullying and mean jealousy on her sister. And because he thinks that once he makes her fall in love with him that Georgina will be an acceptable, maybe even desirable, wife.
William sees Jennifer as sweet, kind, gentle, cowed by Georgina’s stronger ways. Even near the end of the story when Jennifer arrives with Miss Campbell, supposedly after he has realized he was lucky to get Georgie and not Jennifer, he says “I expect Jennifer took pity on her (Miss Campbell) because she’s ugly and unfortunate in her manner. She always had a kind heart.” It isn’t until he sees Jennifer again that he realizes that she is the jealous one, manipulating Georgie and everyone else, not caring at all for anyone besides herself.
The first few days of their marriage William continues the refrain, albeit somewhat muted. When Georgie figures out how Miss Campbell has terrified Celine and she sleeps with William, he backs off even more, then when he finally realizes what Jennifer is he apologizes for mistreating Georgie and tells her he now knows that she is the one who needs protecting, not Jennie.
Jennie is a champion manipulator, deceitful, vindictive, weak yet vicious. She pushes Georgie to tell William she’s dumping him (Georgie is glad to do this errand), then when William comes to confirm it she blames Georgie for first making her marry William, then breaking it up, and she acts fearful and convinced that Georgie only wants to make trouble for her.
She cons Georgie to deliver her letter to William only after the wedding and after they have left England and her tearful note makes William furious. If he thought about it he would have realized that Jennifer had no need to give him a letter via Georgie; she could have insisted on seeing him the night before or the morning of the wedding. Stuart mentions to Georgie at the end that William knows full well the Jennie lied in the note, but William had thrown the letter in Georgie’s face just a few days earlier.
Within a few days of William and Georgie’s wedding Jennifer has convinced her mother that Georgie stole William, that she had pushed her into dumping him for Duncan. Georgie is mortified that William reads her mom’s letter because it’s unkind and makes it clear that mom has little use for Georgie compared to Jennifer. Jennifer puts on the same act when she writes to Georgie informing her that she is coming to visit (this is within a couple weeks of the wedding) and that she sees Georgie as a thief, a backstabbing sister on par with Brutus.
The evening Jennifer arrives in Ceylon she attacks Georgie, tells her she will get her property (William) back, that Georgie cannot compete. William hears some of this and he is there when Jennifer admits she let Miss Campbell take Celine away and that she can’t see the fuss about a stupid girl, not when she’s there. The next morning she starts her flirtatious tricks and manipulation with Stuart, tries to get him interested in her and thinking badly of Georgie. Georgie tells her to stop it, then Stuart tells her off and later William makes it clear he’s not fooled any longer.
Georgie is amazed that Jennifer has such a thick skin, that rejection and even hard words don’t faze her at all. As William says, he doesn’t think his opinion would “so much as dent her self-conceit”.
William claims he loves Georgie in his big apology/seduction scene by the waterfall, but it isn’t terribly convincing. He finally realizes that his lovely sweet Jennifer is a mirage, but that doesn’t mean he now loves Georgina. He told Georgie before this that he wasn’t in love with Jennifer but thought she’d be an admirable wife, friends to Celine and loving to him, and now he knows that Georgie is all those things. He desires Georgie and is glad he can sleep with her and seems to want children, but I’m not convinced that he loves her.
Georgie is straightforward, except it’s a mystery to me why she would love William. She says she likes his masterful ways and she enjoys sleeping with him, and that she would not have married him without love. It’s hard to see how a girl as forthright and honest as Georgie would fall for someone who insults her every time they meet. The author makes it seem possible even if most of us would run for the hills rather than marry someone so ruthless and cold and insulting as William was with Georgie.
Celine grows up during the story. Once Georgie finds out that Miss Campbell used big demon masks to terrify Celine, and Celine and Stuart fall in love, Georgie is able to protect Celine and remove Miss Campbell. Once that baleful influence is removed Celine is able to mature. She may never be 100% normal but she’s no longer nearly catatonic nor screaming with rage and nightmares.
Stuart is a lovely young man who likes Georgie when they meet and he reads between the lines of William’s descriptions to see that she is the better sister. He tells Jennifer that William says she has “soft, gentle manners and a nice nature. Pity he was mistaken. Georgina has had a lot to put up from you in the past, but you won’t have hear around in the future to smooth your path.”
Stuart likes Georgie quite a bit but he’s enamored of Celine. William accuses Georgie of flirting with Stuart and even hints she might be bullying Celine or manipulating people to secure Stuart’s regard. William declares that he’s not going to allow Georgie to give herself to Stuart and he’s jealous of the fact Georgie likes Stuart and is on easy friendship terms with him. Stuart ignores this; he loves Celine and plans to marry her.
Miss Campbell fancies herself a witch and was culpable, if not responsible, for the fire that killed Celine’s mother. She sees Celine as her meal ticket and more, thinks she can steal Celine’s youth and beauty. Everyone is glad when Miss Campbell leaves!
Setting
Georgina and Jennifer live with their parents close by William’s mother’s house in England. Georgie loves William’s house; it is warm and cheerful and welcoming, the opposite of her own home. William is an engineer on a new assignment for the British Commonwealth in Ceylon to build a dam.
Author Isobel Chase writes about Ceylon’s tea plantations and the tea harvesting and processing, but this is not a travelogue. She shows Ceylon is a gorgeous country with mountains and beaches and waterfalls and tea. She mentions the problems that were growing in the early 1980s between the Tamil people who immigrated to Ceylon from India and the native Singhalese and that the British are building the dam and investing in the country.
Overall
I enjoyed this story quite a bit; I am fascinated by the idea of someone knowing they are second best in a marriage and making the best of it.
When you go into a situation knowing you are second choice, what do you do? Do you work to become first choice? Accept what you have? Rail against unfair fate?
House of Mirrors is another story with this theme although very different in style and plot and is an exceptionally good Harlequin romance. Second Best Wife has a different backstory and set up and Georgie has different challenges than did Liz in House of Mirrors.
In Second Best Wife/Undesirable Wife Georgie must overcome both William’s attachment (and idiocy) to her sister and his antipathy and dislike of her, while he believes she is a horrible person and insults her continually. Georgie doesn’t protest too much against his prejudice. She knows that although she is forthright she is not a bully, that in fact she has protected her sister all her life and taken many shots and unkindness from Jennifer and her family. They have been unfair and William is even worse, but she decides she loves him and will take what she can get while trying to capture William’s heart. But she doesn’t expect to keep William. She expects that William will choose Jennie over her; even if he does remain married to her he will have an affair with Jennifer.
William is bossy and expects Georgie to knuckle under, to let him rule her and make decisions for her. She enjoys his mastery in bed but she pushes when he tries to exert control or says he will take over and run her life.
Isobel Chase is the pseudonym of Elizabeth Hunter who wrote Harlequins under both names. The bossy, masterful hero is a staple in the 4 or 5 books of hers that I read; I don’t care for the hero being over the top dominant. It isn’t necessary in my experience for the man to always run the show and it’s a weakness in this author’s – and in many other Harlequin authors’ – work to have a super dominant hero. I think it’s evidence of sloppy characterization and plot, a handy shortcut to get the plot to the requisite happy ending.
Overall I enjoyed Second Best Wife/The Undesirable Wife. I read it under title Second Best Wife on Archive.org first, then purchased The Undesirable Wife from Thriftbooks without realizing is the same title.
4 Stars
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