There are several reasons why Robert Goolrick’s “A Reliable Wife” (Algonquin, 291 pages) should not be a good book. For one, the 1907 Wisconsin setting is cold and the characters are isolated; there isn’t a whole lot for them to do. And the cast itself is measly, consisting mostly of two main characters and a few minor ones.

The book’s worst rule-breaker, though, is its beginning. Publishing experts report time and again that these first pages should be packed with action and dialogue. But for more than a dozen initial pages of “A Reliable Wife,” all that readers see is a man standing at a railroad station. He stands there in the bitter cold and exchanges fewer than a handful of words with those around him.

“A Reliable Wife” isn’t a good book despite these literature faux-pas, it works because of them. The male protagonist, Ralph Truitt is an aging, wealthy businessman who lives outside a remote town. For reasons readers don’t initially understand, Truitt advertises in a big city newspaper for a “reliable wife.” Catherine Land answers the ad. Soon after she arrives on the train, looking not a bit like the “simple honest woman” she claimed to be in her letter, the two are involved in an accident. Ralph is badly hurt and Catherine must nurse him back to life at his remote home.

Mostly alone in the cold, these two main characters share their past with readers. And while readers steadily turn pages and learn more about Ralph and Catherine, their motivations become clearer. Readers understand that these two are far from perfect; they’ve made serious mistakes in their lives and they continue to make those mistakes. Indeed, Catherine spends a great deal of the book trying to kill Ralph—this isn’t a spoiler, it’s obvious early in the story.

If the book had been set in a time and place in which Ralph and Catherine could move about and easily communicate with others, readers would not get such an intimate look into their lives. It’s the remote setting and the small cast that enables us to cheer on these flawed characters.

And those rule-breaking initial pages are a covenant to readers. Through them, Goolrick demonstrates his command of words and promises readers that if we stick with him, he’ll tell us a story we won’t soon forget.

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Miller is an author of young adult novels. For information or to offer column suggestions, visit www.anitalaydonmiller.com or email anita.l.miller@att.net.

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