review: memoirs of a widowed mistress by megan van eyck

Memoirs of a Widowed Mistress is compelling and stunningly honest, but the title is a bit misleading as Megan van Eyck’s story is more than just the story of losing her lover; she delves into how she became a woman who would accept a loveless marriage and agree to what was initially said to be “sex and only sex” with another man. As it turns out (and is exactly what I expected), van Eyck has abandonment issues from a childhood filled with neglect. Furthermore, she self-diagnoses bipolar disorder (it was unclear if a doctor confirmed this though there is mention of medication); at the very least, van Eyck was incredibly depressed after the birth of her second son. Her depression caused her to lose all interest in sex, so she definitely wasn’t looking to start anything when she met Carlos at the airport. But an affair did eventually begin despite them both being married and a significant age difference (Carlos has a daughter who is a year older than van Eyck). The graphically described affair lasted over five years and ended only because Carlos died of a rare blood disorder. Although van Eyck doesn’t get political with this memoir, her experience in being shut out of Carlos’s final moments does reveal how non-family members are often left out.
4/5
Review copy provided by the author.