Wife After Wife

Hayfield recasts the saga of Henry VIII’s many marriages in contemporary London in her ambitious if underwhelming adult debut (after the middle grade Spine-Tinglers series). Alternating between flashbacks from bitter, middle-aged media mogul Harry Rose and several women who married him, the tale traces Harry’s destructive romances as he rises up the ranks of the Rose Corp. In 1985, the handsome and charismatic Harry marries his pregnant girlfriend, Katie Paragon. Later, while she struggles with the loss of their stillborn daughter, Harry begins a series of affairs. Katie, a Catholic, initially refuses to divorce him, but he determines to marry Ana Lyebon, a new Rose hire, in 1992. Harry’s second marriage endures until the new millennium, when Ana catches wind of his infidelity and demands a divorce, along with half of Harry’s assets, leading him to set in motion a plan that results in her death (“You give me nod, I make problem go away,” a Russian associate tells him, though Harry doubts his sincerity). He quickly marries his secretary, Janette, with whom he’d been carrying on for years. When a journalist’s exposé hints at the truth about what happened to Ana, Harry must reevaluate his personal relationships. While Hayfield’s transposing of a tyrannical king into the form of a media mogul doesn’t go smoothly, the strong characterizations of modern women caught up in an age-old story of men behaving badly are impressive. Readers, however, will long for a sharper, more incisive take on romantic workplace entanglements. Agent: Vicki Marsdon, High Spot Literary. (Jan.)