Mad Wife

“How does the patriarchy uphold standards that support and normalize abuse like this? Hamilton both asks and answers that question in her honest and eye-opening story.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Mad Wife has stayed on my mind since I first read it and I will continue thinking about Hamilton’s ideas well into the future.”
—Roxane Gay, The Audacity Substack

“Harrowing, fierce, intimate, and ultimately empowering, Mad Wife is a brilliant memoir for our moment. A feminist must-read.”
—Kate Manne, author of Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny

“Kate Hamilton has written a memoir that I’m dying to talk about with every woman I know. Beautifully written, unbelievably brave, unflinchingly honest, Mad Wife is an indictment of heterosexual marriage and, specifically, sex within marriage. Hamilton’s is a story of how patriarchy has designed marriage to gaslight a woman for the entirety of a relationship, to distort her understanding of consent and her own desires, and to entitle a husband to his wife’s body. This memoir will have women readers reassessing every sexual encounter they’ve ever had with a partner and wondering why it has taken so long for a book like this to exist.”
—Donna Freitas, author of Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention

“Lucid, measured, searing, important. Kate Hamilton draws an intricate map of her heart-space, courageously taking us on her journey of love, heartbreak, awakening, and triumph. I am deeply renewed by her words, a beautiful reclamation of a precious life that is her own and a reminder that we belong to ourselves.”
—Beverly Gooden, author of Surviving: Why We Stay and How We Leave

“Kate Hamilton methodically parses the complexities, cruelties, and chaos of heterosexual marriage norms while somehow maintaining a sense of compassion and hope. A must-read for those seeking to understand how inequality is woven into our relationships.”
—Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her

Kate Hamilton is a Professor of English at a university where she teaches literature, literary theory, and women’s writing. She has published numerous books and dozens of academic articles and chapters on a wide array of authors, and she has given talks and keynote speeches about literature, pedagogy, and sexual violence at conferences and workshops throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Her first trade publication, Mad Wife uses these decades of work on literature and sexual violence to clarify her own dark past and illuminate clearer paths forward for other women.

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