The Stepford Wives language after the publication of Levin's book and it is generally used as a derogatory term which refers to a submissive and docile wife who seems to conform blindly to the stereotype of an old-fashioned subservient role in relationship to her husband. It is sometimes used in reference to any woman, even an accomplished professional woman, who had subordinated her life or career to her husband's interests and who affected submission and devotion to him even in the face of the husband's public problems and disgrace. The Stepford Wives The Stepford Wives is a 1972 satirical thriller novel by Ira
The Woman in White (novel) her fortune of £20,000 (then an enormous sum of money) by default falls to her husband on her death. This provides the motive for the conspiracy of her unscrupulous husband and his co-conspirator Fosco. In his later "Man and Wife", Collins portrays another victim of the law's partiality, who takes a terrible revenge on her husband. The novel was first published in serial form in 1859–60, appearing in Charles Dickens' magazine "All the Year Round" (UK) and "Harper's Weekly" (USA). It was published in book form in 1860. The novel was extremely successful commercially, but contemporary critics were generally hostile.