The Husbands: A Novel

Chandler Baker’s satirical novel The Husbands is a psychological thriller that explores the complicated gender dynamics of heterosexual marriage amid fourth-wave feminism in the 21st century. The novel is inspired by Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives (1972), a novel in which a community of husbands replaces their wives with docile, hypersexualized animatronic versions of themselves. The Husbands follows Nora Spangler, a lawyer who becomes frustrated by the lack of equality in her marriage and seeks advice from her new community of powerful, educated women whose husbands seem unusually supportive. The novel explores The Persistence of Marriage Inequality, The Possibility of Progress, and Society’s Gender-Based Double Standards.

Like Nora, Baker is a lawyer, wife, and mother. A New York Times bestselling author, Baker has authored over a dozen books of YA and adult fiction, including the YA thriller series, High School Horror. Her work focuses on the issues facing modern women, including gender equality, motherhood, and marriage.

This guide is based on the 2021 paperback edition published by Flatiron Books.

Content Warning: The source text contains descriptions of abuse and domestic violence.

Plot Summary

Nora Spangler and her husband, Hayden, attend an open house in Dynasty Ranch, a neighborhood outside of Austin, Texas. Nora is pregnant and feels pressure to move before the birth, though Hayden lacks this same urgency. Despite the evidence of a recent housefire, the neighborhood looks like the American Dream. The realtor, Isla Wong, also lives there, and she tells the Spanglers that Nora’s Ivy-league education and career as an accomplished lawyer nearly guarantee their application’s acceptance. When Nora gets a call from Gary, a senior partner at her firm, they cut the tour short and pick up their four-year-old daughter, Liv.

Though it’s Sunday, Nora must work for several hours, and Hayden disappears, leaving her in charge of Liv too. This is typical, and it makes Nora angry. She’s up for partner this year, and Hayden promises to “help out” more, but Nora has heard it before. Isla calls the next day, hoping Nora will agree to help a neighbor, Penny March, with the wrongful death case of Penny’s husband, Richard. Nora meets two of Penny’s friends, Cornelia White and Thea Jenkins, an accomplished psychiatrist and neurosurgeon, respectively, and she is impressed by their friendship. Penny, a writer, now lives in Cornelia’s pool house, and she and Nora hit it off. Nora gets home late, finding a messy house, an empty fridge, and Hayden relaxing on the couch. Near Liv’s bedtime, he disappears again, and they argue. Hayden tells Nora she just needs to ask for help, but she wants him to do things without her having to ask.

Nora can’t sleep, and she considers taking an Ambien, but her “self-loathing” prevents her. She calls her best friend, Andi Ogsby, in Berlin. Later, Nora searches the web for information on the Marches’ housefire and learns that Richard burned to death. The next day, she meets with Gary to discuss her candidacy for partner: There’s concern about her billable hours during the years in which she took maternity leave and the time she took to care for Liv after her “accident.” Nora tells Gary about the March case, how she considered declining it so she could continue to help him with his caseload, but she now decides to take it.

Nora visits the housefire site, smelling something lemony and piney. The HOA president, Alexis Foster-Ross, pulls over and invites Nora to her house. Alexis offers to provide any information Nora needs to decide on the house, noting they “don’t have a lawyer yet” (79). Nora calls her fire expert, Dave, who agrees to visit the house and test some samples. From her pictures, he thinks arson is a possibility. At Nora’s next ob-gyn appointment, her blood pressure is high, and her doctor says to relax more. Nora and Hayden go to Cornelia’s for a dinner party, where the men discuss running their households, and Hayden mentions how much more “modern” fathers do than their fathers. In response, the other men praise their wives’ hard work. Cornelia and Thea talk about what they do—counseling patients to create new neural pathways, then performing brain surgery to make those pathways permanent. When Penny and Nora talk privately, Penny says Richard was preoccupied with the house just before his death.

Richard made seven calls to an appliance company before his death, complaining of a clicking noise. They offered to replace the appliances but couldn’t reach him to schedule installation. When Nora goes to Alexis’s house for the community plans, a woman named Lucy arrives in tears; her husband struck her. Watching Alexis and Cornelia comfort Lucy, Nora thinks of how she needs friends like them. Nora investigates Richard’s medical history and learns that he saw Thea before his death. At Thea’s office, Nora sees brain scans of many Dynasty Ranch husbands, and Thea says she prescribed medicine for Richard’s migraines. When Hayden calls Nora because Liv is having a tantrum, Cameron tells her that Hayden is a “lazy traveler”: He can be lazy because she takes care of everything. Later, at their gender reveal party, Nora and Hayden argue when hosting duties fall on her, and she angrily smashes the cake. Cornelia calls this “mommy rage,” and Alexis claims responsibility for “dropping” the cake. She encourages Nora to go to couples’ therapy with Cornelia, saying they all do. Nora and Hayden begin therapy, and it is unlike anything they expected.

As Hayden and Nora continue therapy, Hayden takes on more household duties. He remembers picture day, does the laundry, and more. When she tells Hayden how much she likes the Dynasty Ranch house, he tells her they should make an offer because she deserves it. Unsettled, Nora looks for information about Cornelia’s therapy style, finding no mention of her methods. Nora recalls the three times she’s had premonitions, each one preceding something awful, and she recognizes the same feeling now. She and Hayden attend an extravagant Mother’s Day party at Dynasty Ranch, where Penny attacks a doctor with whom Thea has set her up. Cornelia is compelled to admit Penny to a psychiatric facility. When Nora visits, Penny tells her Richard was killed. Dave tells Nora the fire was a “freak accident.”

When Nora arrives at their next counseling session, Hayden is working alone with Thea. Cornelia tells her Penny isn’t going to pursue the lawsuit, because it’s bad for her mental health. During the session, Nora explains Liv’s accident. Nora was exhausted, up at night with Liv and working during the day. When Liv got sick, Nora stayed home. One day, she put Liv in front of the TV and went to lie down, taking an Ambien, but she forgot to close the baby gate at the steps. Liv fell, and Nora found her. Hayden apologizes to Nora for not being there, assuring her that he isn’t mad. Later, Gary calls, and Hayden makes dinner and lets Nora work.

Nora is relieved and grateful for her new life, and her blood pressure improves. Penny asks Nora for a ride to the airport because she doesn’t want anyone to know she’s leaving. When the Spanglers sign the papers for the house, Isla gives Nora a gift bag containing stationery, a gold pen, and a candle. Nora smells something lemony and piney on Hayden, and he mentions a new stain remover, Lestoil. Dave found traces of Lestoil in the Marches’ house though Penny once said they used a different brand.

When Penny is late, Nora searches for her. She finds Penny at Cornelia’s, barely alive, in a pool of blood. Cornelia, Thea, and Alexis emerge, and Cornelia promises that Penny’s death is “humane.” Nora accuses Cornelia of murder, and Cornelia clicks her gold pen, summoning Hayden, who is covered in Penny’s blood. Cornelia and Thea explain that they are ending gender inequality by “deprogramming” men, so they no longer believe that mothers are responsible for the household. Nora calls the police, but the officer who arrives is Evelyn Aziz, a Dynasty Ranch resident and patient of Cornelia’s. Nora convinces Cornelia and Evelyn to spare her life and let her out of their contract.

Two years later, the Spanglers live in a different neighborhood. Nora is a partner. When she gets home late after book club one night, the house is a disaster and James, their son, is still up. Hayden claims James only wanted Nora. After she puts the boy back to bed, Nora digs out the gold pen and clicks the top.