A Beautiful, Terrible Thing: A Memoir of Marriage and Betrayal

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Penguin, Jul 11, 2017 - Biography & Autobiography - 272 pages
A woman discovers her marriage is built on an illusion in this harrowing and ultimately inspiring memoir.

“Be forewarned: You won’t sleep until you finish the last page.—Caroline Leavitt, author of Cruel Beautiful World


One night. One email. Two realities...

Before: Jen Waite has met the partner of her dreams. A handsome, loving man who becomes part of her family, evolving into her husband, her best friend, and the father of her infant daughter.

After: A disturbing email sparks suspicion, leading to an investigation of who this man really is and what was really happening in their marriage.

In alternating Before and After chapters, Waite obsessively analyzes her relationship, trying to find a single moment form the past five years that isn't part of the long con of lies and manipulation. Instead, she finds more lies, infidelity, and betrayal than she could have imagined. With the pacing and twists of a psychological thriller, A Beautiful, Terrible Thing looks at how a fairy tale can become a nightmare and what happens when “it could never happen to me” actually does.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
9
Section 3
11
Section 4
20
Section 5
23
Section 6
32
Section 7
36
Section 8
42
Section 19
105
Section 20
113
Section 21
122
Section 22
126
Section 23
142
Section 24
148
Section 25
158
Section 26
162

Section 9
50
Section 10
55
Section 11
63
Section 12
69
Section 13
75
Section 14
78
Section 15
81
Section 16
85
Section 17
89
Section 18
94
Section 27
185
Section 28
188
Section 29
208
Section 30
211
Section 31
214
Section 32
234
Section 33
244
Section 34
248
Copyright

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About the author (2017)

Jen Waite grew up on the coast of Maine. After graduating from Vassar College, she moved to New York City for ten years, where she first worked in finance and then pursued acting and modeling. She moved back to Maine in 2015, shortly after the birth of her daughter.

Bibliographic information