
The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf
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Narrated by:
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Saskia Maarleveld
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Isa Arsén
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By:
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Isa Arsén
About this listen
Two Shakespearean actors in an unconventional marriage get caught up in a renowned director’s scheme that will bring them closer than ever or rip them apart for good.
Up-and-coming stage actress Margaret Shoard has just taken a bow as Lady Macbeth, the role she has always believed was destined for her. At home, she plays wife to her best friend Wesley, even if she doesn’t hold his sole attention romantically. After a public breakdown threatens all she holds dear, Margaret’s doctor prescribes her uppers—just a little help to get through the days.
When Wesley is invited by eccentric director Vaughn Kline to join the cast for an inaugural Shakespeare performance in the New Mexico desert, Margaret decides to accompany him in hopes the time away will set her back to rights . . . but the world she finds in Vaughn’s company is filled with duplicity and betrayal. Margaret and Wesley, embroiled in an affair with a man who may not be all he seems, must find a way forward together before their story becomes the real tragedy.
©2025 Isa Arsén (P)2025 Penguin AudioCritic reviews
One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025
One of Brit & Co’s Most Anticipated Books for 2025
One of LGBTQ Reads's Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Fiction 2025
One of Electric Lit's Most Anticipated Queer Books of Spring 2025
One of Crime Reads's Most Anticipated Books of 2025
One of BookBub's Best New Historical Fiction of January
"Arsén’s sophomore effort is equal parts sultry and cultured, featuring two Shakespearian actors in a unusual but emotionally fulfilling marriage of convenience who find themselves in a sticky situation." —Crime Reads
"Arsén writes with tender attention to her characters' moods and follies. An intimate rendition of one woman on the edge, and an indelible portrait of mid-century theatre, of performance and artifice alike. The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf is an incandescent work of drama." —C. Michelle Lindley, author of The Nude
"Margaret Wolf is an astonishing character; the narrator's wry observations and Arsén's lush prose lull you into a false sense of security as Margaret spends a summer exploring suppressed desires and struggling to define herself against midcentury American expectations of women . . . just up until the shocking conclusion." —Emily Dunlay, author of Teddy
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