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ClareR (5721 KP) rated The Dictator’s Wife in Books

Mar 8, 2022  
The Dictator’s Wife
The Dictator’s Wife
Freya Berry | 2022 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Dictator’s Wife drew me in from the first page. I was utterly gripped by this claustrophobic-feeling story about the wife of a deposed (and dead) dictator.

Laura Lāzārescu’s parents had escaped Yanussia and its oppressive regime when she was a small child. Yanussian wasn’t spoken in the house, Yanussia wasn’t spoken about at all. So when Laura is asked to go to Yanussia with her law firm to represent Marija Popa, the wife of the country’s former dictator, her parents aren’t at all happy.

Marija is firm in her innocence. But is she really innocent? She’s accused of money laundering and human rights abuses, but she repeatedly paints a picture of herself as that of the nations mother. This is a woman with charisma, and you know when she has entered a room. She uses her femininity like a weapon - people do what she want them to with little effort on her part (or so it appears).

And Laura is affected by her. What makes it more interesting, is that Marija knows Laura’s mother - something that Laura has no knowledge of.

There’s a feeling of dread running throughout this book: Laura and her colleagues can’t leave the grounds without an escort, the building itself has secrets, and it’s as though those secrets are oozing from the walls. It feels like Laura is being constantly watched.

Everyone in this novel has secrets: Laura’s parents, her colleagues, the Yanussian lawyer, Marija’s sister, and most importantly, Marija herself. Family is an important theme: Marija is adopted, but even her adopted sister is clearly covering up for her. Laura’s family has pretty much destroyed itself as her parents keep their secrets from her.

Other themes are secrets, gender roles, stereotypes within those roles and the role of the media and social media in particular. Social media is a big driver behind the attitudes of the people towards Marija, and the media itself fuels this.

Laura just wants to find out the secrets that her parents won’t tell her, but will she be able to before she has to leave?

I’d most certainly recommend this book, and I’m really looking forward to reading more from Freya Berry in the future. Many thanks to Hayley @Shelflyfe and @Headline books for my prize-winning copy.