Wives Like Us

By: Plum Sykes

Narrated by: Annabel Mullion

Bloomsbury presents Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes, read by Annabel Mullion.

Outrageously Jilly Cooperesque' Sunday Times Style


Take a grand English country house, one (heartbroken) American divorcée, three rich wives, two tycoons, and one (bereaved) butler; put them all into the blender and out comes the impossibly funny Wives Like Us.

Welcome to the rose-strewn county of Oxfordshire and the Cotswold villages of Little Bottom, Middle Bottom, Great Bottom, and Monkton Bottom, recently annexed by a glittering new breed of female: the Country Princess.

Following a ghastly row about a missing suite of diamonds, Tata Hawkins has flounced out of Monkton Bottom Manor with her daughter, Minty, and Executive Butler Ian Palmer in tow, decamping to the Old Coach House to teach her husband, Bryan, a lesson.

But things don’t go to plan: Bryan disappears to Venice with a bikini designer; Selby Fairfax, the glamorous American divorcée who has inherited the beautiful estate next door, refuses Tata’s neighborly overtures; and Tata’s very best friends, Fernanda Ovington-Williams and Sophie Thompson, are distracted by their own heartaches. Worst of all, Ian has nowhere to store his collection of vintage Gucci loafers.

With the help of a pig farmeress moonlighting as a personal assistant, a male model moonlighting as a stable hand, and a London barrister moonlighting as a gentleman farmer, can Ian restore harmony to the Bottoms?

‘So wickedly smart, so effortless, so chic and hilarious. Plum Sykes is in a class of her own when it comes to peeling back the layers of status paranoia amongst the poshest of the posh as she delivers a delectable tale that you never want to end.’ Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians

'The brilliantly satirical new novel that’s got the Cotswolds smart set buzzing with speculation…it may finally be time for Jilly [Cooper] to make way for a new chronicler of Cotswolds life' Daily Mail

‘A fabulous and funny bucolic romp – Plum Sykes does it again.’ Hannah Rothschild, author of The Improbability of Love

'Wives Like Us may be set in the most gorgeous English manor house, but I’d happily sleep in the shed if it meant I could tag along with these marvellous characters – Tata, Minty, and their chic and crafty butler.’ Jenny Jackson, author of Pineapple Street

'Delightful' Vogue

‘I absolutely adored Wives Like Us, I thought it was so fun and funny, a romp and a riot – and a glorious dollop of much needed escapism.' Daisy Buchanan

‘A stiletto-sharp look at the glamorous end of the Cotswolds. I loved it!’ Katie Fforde

'Wickedly funny' Citizen Femme

'A comedy of manners with an emphasis on the comedy’ Town & Country

©2024 Plum Sykes (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

A stiletto-sharp look at the glamorous end of the Cotswolds. I loved it! (Katie Fforde)

A fabulous and funny bucolic romp – Plum Sykes does it again. (Hannah Rothschild, author of The Improbability of Love)

Wives Like Us made me laugh so hard I actually knocked over my lamp. Can a book be so wickedly smart, so effortless, so chic and hilarious that you would stumble through the night to find a new lightbulb just so you can keep reading way past your bedtime? In a word, yes. Plum Sykes is in a class of her own when it comes to peeling back the layers of status paranoia amongst the poshest of the posh as she delivers a delectable tale that you never want to end. I would risk all the lamps in my house to read stand-alone novels about every single character in this book! (Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians)

Wives Like Us may be set in the most gorgeous English manor house, but I’d happily sleep in the shed if it meant I could tag along with these marvellous characters – Tata, Minty, and their chic and crafty butler. (Jenny Jackson, author of Pineapple Street)

I absolutely adored Wives Like Us, I thought it was so fun and funny, a romp and a riot - and a glorious dollop of much needed escapism. (Daisy Buchanan)