The Perfect Wife

""Marry an ugly girl,"" says Henry Owen's best friend as Henry prepares for his wedding day. ""She'll be so grateful to have a husband, she won't care if you abandon her."" Welcome advice, thinks Henry, since the only reason he plans to marry (and quickly divorce) overweight, unattractive Anne Foster is to save Sea Cliff, the beloved New England summer home he can't inherit until he takes a bride. Two years later, Anne, who is now slender and stunningly beautiful, decides to get over being mad at Henry and get even instead. She plans to give him a taste of his own medicine by winning him back so she can dump him as unceremoniously as he divorced her. But even the best-laid plans have a way of going askew, especially when love is involved. A subplot taken from the angst-ridden pages of Henry's dying grandfather's journal puts a provocative spin on this finely crafted historical romance that shows Goodger at her best. (Sept.)