A BEAUTIFUL, TERRIBLE THING

A woman discovers her husband is not whom she thought he was.

Waite met Marco at work; he was the new bar manager, and she was working as a waitress “to make the money that did not seem to be materializing from my acting and modeling careers.” They went out for drinks even though Waite had a long-distance relationship with another man. “He was sexy and mysterious and all of a sudden I wanted him more than I had wanted anything in my life,” she writes. Before long, they were a couple and moved in together; she agreed to help fund Marco’s lifetime dream of opening a restaurant; they got pregnant and married. Then their perfect life fell apart when Waite discovered Marco was cheating on her and had been for quite some time. Alternating between two time frames—before finding out about the affair and after—the author slowly unravels the complexity of lies and disillusions she suffered because of Marco. The tension, disbelief, and grief permeate the pages as Waite chronicles how she obsessively checked Marco’s email and Facebook accounts for proof of his infidelity. The author makes palpable her inability to cope with the enormity of her situation and the confusion and fear for what a divorce would mean for her newborn child. Her recounting of the events gives readers an up-close look at the psychological damage that occurs when one partner falls completely for another and ignores the gut instincts and warning signs that the relationship may not be what it seems. Those who have been in a manipulative partnership with a narcissistic or abusive person will find Waite’s honest retelling relevant and potent. Many will find they can use this as a guidebook of what to watch out for so they don’t make the same mistakes that the author did.

A frank and visceral dual timeline shows the romance and failure of a woman’s marriage to a psychopath.