The Wife App: A Novel

Because every wife deserves a happy ending.

Three best friends decide they’re finally done with their ex-husbands taking their work as wives and moms for granted. They’re ready to monetize the mental load, stick it to their exes, and have a wild ride in the process in this novel that is “fresh, funny, empowering, and totally satisfying” (Judy Blume).

Lauren, mother of twins, wakes up one morning to her Wife Alarm Bells sounding. She sleuths on her husband’s phone and stumbles on a dirty secret that explodes her marriage. Madeline has it all—a penthouse apartment, a perfect daughter, and no-strings-attached romps with handsome men. But when she learns she might lose her child to her ex in England, it stirs up a decades-old personal tragedy. Sophie, with too much FOMO and never enough money, obsesses over her ex-husband’s Family 2.0—all while keeping her true desires hidden, even from herself.

It starts as a joke during a tipsy night out, as Lauren, Madeline, and Sophie rail against everything wives do for free. Let’s build an app that monetizes the mental load. And maybe revenge on our exes in the process. Soon, the Wife App is born, and before long, it’s the fastest growing start-up in New York City. But then life intervenes. Love intervenes. Ex-husbands intervene. And the consequences are bigger than anything Lauren, Madeline, or Sophie could have expected. Carolyn Mackler marks her debut into adult fiction with a rollercoaster ride of revenge and redemption that is at once a send-up of modern marriage and a celebration of female friendship and love in all forms.

Carolyn Mackler is the acclaimed author of the YA novels The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (A Michael L. Printz Honor Book); The Universe Is Expanding and So Am I; Infinite in Between; and Love and Other Four-Letter Words; and the middle grade novel, Best Friend Next Door. Carolyn’s award-winning books have appeared on bestseller lists and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Carolyn lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. The Wife App is her first adult novel.

ISBN: 9781982158828
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: June 18, 2024

“Who wouldn't want a wife? I'm not talking about sex here. Carolyn Mackler's delightful new novel is sexy but it's not about sex. Think of all the other services wives perform without getting paid and you'll get some of what this Wife App is all about. The Wife App is fresh, funny, empowering, and totally satisfying.”—Judy Blume

“Three divorced mothers in Manhattan join forces to create an app ‘to right marital inequalities’ in this breezy look at gender imbalance…. Although Mackler’s protagonists are around 40 and would have been barely 20 at the turn of the 21st century, they could easily populate an updated Sex and the City.”—Kirkus

“Mackler's razor-sharp adult fiction debut imagines one answer to a persistent question: What if women got paid for all the "mental load" tasks that wives usually do for free?... Smart, wincingly funny, and occasionally sexy, Mackler's novel is a 21st-century ode to female empowerment and women pursuing what they really want.”—Shelf Awareness

“The Wife App is one of the most entertaining novels I’ve read in a while. I couldn’t put this book down, and you won’t be able to, either.”—Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Little Bridge Island series

“The Wife App is quick-paced and gripping, and Mackler's writing is addictive. She makes us really like these three women, and we want them to succeed and get their justice. And while the novel is an enjoyable read, it's also a thoughtful one.”—BookReporter

“The Wife App is a book lover’s updated Sex and the City. You will not be able to stop reading as you hook into the lives of three women dealing head-on with love, sex, money, marriage, divorce, business, motherhood and friendship. Carolyn Mackler’s first adult novel is an absolute triumph!”—Jessica Anya Blau, author of Mary Jane

“Carolyn Mackler’s The Wife App is a provocative, funny novel that poses serious questions: why does so much work in a marriage still fall to wives, and why aren’t these labors paid? Much to discuss!”—Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times bestselling author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“The character development of each of the protagonists, the nod to breaking down gender norms, and a satisfying ending all point to potential for Mackler among the beach-read set.”—Booklist

“Mackler identifies many real, often unspoken problems inherent in domesticity.” —Publishers Weekly