Mrs. Wiggins

Book excerpt: From the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of the classic, captivating, and scandalous Mama Ruby series, comes a church-going matriarch’s rags to riches Depression era story set in the Deep South. The respectable family she has built means everything to her, and she’ll do anything to keep them. The daughter of a prostitute mother and an alcoholic father, Maggie Franklin knew her only way out was to marry someone upstanding and church-going. Someone like Hubert Wiggins, the most eligible man in Lexington, Alabama—and the son of its most revered preacher. Proper and prosperous, Hubert is glad to finally have a wife, even one with Maggie’s background. For Hubert has a secret he desperately needs to stay hidden. And Maggie’s unexpected charm, elegance, and religious devotion makes her the perfect partner in lies . . . Their surprising union makes the Wigginses the town’s most envied couple—complete with a son, Claude, whom Maggie idolizes. Until he falls in love with the worst possible fiancée. Terrified, Maggie won’t let Daisy destroy her son. And when her employer’s brother sexually harasses her, Maggie knows something needs to be done about him as well. In fact, she realizes there are an awful lot of sinning “disruptive” people who should be eliminated from her perfect world . . . But the more Maggie tries to take control, the more obstacles are thrown in her way. And when it seems like the one person she always expected to be there is starting to drift away, Maggie will play one final, merciless game to secure what she’s fought so hard to earn . . . “Her willingness to do anything for her loved ones is relatable, and the emboldening influence of her desperation and the incremental gravity of her deceptiveness heighten the narrative’s mesmerizing effect.” —Booklist