The Obedient Wife

novel by O’Faolain

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July 19, 2026

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The Obedient Wife is a novel by Julia O'Faolain, published in 1982. The story is set in Los Angeles and follows an Italian woman who decides to end her affair with a priest and return to her husband. O'Faolain was an Irish writer known for her meticulously researched novels that often explored the historical and contemporary status of women, as well as political and emotional issues relevant to the Irish. Her work frequently dealt with themes of sexual repression and emotional states.1

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Julia O’Faolain
The Obedient Wife (1982), in which an Italian woman ends her affair with a priest and returns to her husband, is set in Los Angeles. The novel The Judas Cloth (1992) concerns the 19th-century Roman Catholic clergy. With her husband, Lauro Martines, O’Faolain edited Not…
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The Obedient Wife (1982), in which an Italian woman ends her affair with a priest and returns to her husband, is set in Los Angeles. The novel The Judas Cloth (1992) concerns the 19th-century Roman Catholic clergy. With her husband, Lauro Martines, O’Faolain edited Not…
Read More