Tradwife, by TC Parker
Everyone remembers the Heart of Solomon murders: three young married couples slaughtered around the dinner table, their bodies desecrated, in the UK's first and only purpose-built Tradwife community.
And no suspect ever charged.
Writer Gina Lewis wants to know. Her plan: talk to the people who knew the three dead couples best, and try to understand what brought them to the Heart of Solomon. Puzzle out why they died - and how the "traditional marriage" Arcadia they were promised turned so dangerous, so quickly.
And she'll keep going until she finds the truth. No matter what it costs her.
This book was due to be published in May 2025. It’s been moved forward to December 2024, and it’s not hard to see why.
This is an angry book. It’s fierce, unflinching and absolutely authentic. I can easily imagine it being ‘based on real events’ (it’s not; at least not yet).
The documentary style is akin to ‘found footage’, giving a sense of truth while adding footnotes as a peek behind the curtain to the narrator, who soon becomes a character in her own right. It’s impossible not to feel engaged with these events as the story unfolds - not least because I live close to several of the locations mentioned!
We might initially feel sorry for those who clearly suffered at the hands of a mysterious assailant with a grudge. As the story goes on, this changes, and by the end I felt very differently.
Sidenote: I’ve worked in prisons. I’ve met real murderers. It’s not at all Agatha Christie - it’s far more like this. Because the true villains of this piece are indisputably those who died.
This is the clever, cutting satire that is ‘Tradwife’. We are presented with a situation that should be clear-cut - a terrible unsolved crime - which then blossoms into something far more complex. The ethics and motivations of far-right, idealised 1950s-lifestylers is challenged, bringing forward the effect of such propaganda on women and their families. The damage caused by those who are themselves pretty messed-up is unquestionable, yet we see glimpses of Reddit-analogue chats discussing events as if they were indeed fiction. I’ve no doubt that this happens.
This also manages to be an easy read, despite the subject matter. The chatty, genuine tone of our narrator is almost entertaining, pulling me into the journey of just ‘whodunnit’ and why. There’s no shortage of suspects or motivations, and it’s impossible not to engage with what might once have seemed impossible circumstances. I needed to find out just what was going on, and I’m glad to say that the conclusion is very satisfying.
In a world with ‘incels’, with a woman on trial in France for the crimes of her husband and community, where men claim ‘Your body, my choice’, this book is so very needed. Not necessarily as a call to arms, but as a fictionalisation of what could absolutely happen. We’re a breath away from this particular Twilight Zone. The system that we have isn’t prepared for such situations and needs to change, but until then, we have our creativity to raise voices and challenge, to inspire and provoke thought.
What would we do in this situation, but also what can we do to prevent it?
This is one of the most enduring, thoughtful books I’ve read in a while, and it deserves to stand with ‘The Handmaids Tale’ and so many other feminist and queer books as a kick in the complacency as we head into difficult times.
Buy it, read it, gift it, think on it. Then consider how to raise your voice too.