According to the faithful housewife who narrates Argentinean crime writer Claudia Piñeiro's (Thursday Night Widows) darkly comic All Yours, "However painful it is to admit it, at some time or other, all women are deceived by their husbands."
Ines has been married to Ernesto for 19 years, since they were both 17. When she finds a heart drawn in lipstick with the words "All yours" across it, signed "your true love," in his briefcase, Ines decides not to overreact, convinced that the woman will be history in a week. When the affair persists, she eavesdrops on a late-night phone call and decides to follow him. She watches him meet his secretary in Palermo Woods, and when the young Alicia tries to cling to him, Ernesto pushes her away so violently that she falls, strikes her head against a log and dies.
Instantly Ines becomes Ermesto's no-nonsense accomplice, determined to protect her husband. Ernesto is such a blubbering bungler that she quickly takes charge of washing the mud off the car and getting rid of every clue. But Ines has made one big mistake. The girl she saw Ernesto accidentally kill is not the one he's having an affair with--"True love" is still very much alive.
Like the best crime novels, nothing happens quite as planned and schemes go frighteningly awry. When their secretly pregnant 17-year-old daughter tries to steal money for an abortion from her mother's hiding place, she instead finds her father's love letters. When Ernesto tries to escape to Rio with his girlfriend, he forgets the important blue folder for his business conference; Ines, devoted wife that she is, races to the airport to give it to him--to find him kissing his girlfriend on the escalator.
The translation by Miranda France is swift, clear and vernacular; the narrative is spare and energetic, the conclusion satisfying. But the creation of Ines is the book's triumph.
Her unshakeable faith in her marriage and her determination to save her husband are the heart of this unusual take on the betrayed wife, and Piñeiro brings this unforgettable character to life with delightful gusto. --Nick DiMartino, Nick's Picks, University Book Store, Seattle