Hausfrau

by Jill Alexander Essbaum

3 of 5 stars 6 ratings • 3 reviews • 10 shelved
Book cover for Hausfrau

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Haunting and elegant, Hausfrau is the exceptional debut novel from the prize-winning American poet, Jill Alexander Essbaum.

Anna was a good wife, mostly . . .

Anna Benz lives in comfort and affluence with her husband and three young children in Dietlikon, a picture-perfect suburb of Zurich. Anna, an American expat, has chosen this life far from home; but, despite its tranquility and order, inside she is falling apart.

Feeling adrift and unable to connect with her husband or his family; with the fellow expatriates who try to befriend her; or even, increasingly, her own thoughts and emotions, Anna attempts to assert her agency in the only way that makes sense to her: by engaging in short-lived but intense sexual affairs.

But adultery, too, has its own morality, and when Anna finds herself crossing a line, she will set off a terrible chain of events that ends in unspeakable tragedy. As her life crashes down around her, Anna must then discover where one must go when there is no going back . . .

  • ISBN13 9780553551587
  • Publish Date 17 March 2015 (first published 1 January 2015)
  • Publish Status Out of Stock
  • Out of Print 8 July 2022
  • Publish Country US
  • Publisher Random House USA Inc
  • Imprint Random House US Audio
  • Format Audiobook (UK Trade)
  • Duration 9 hours and 30 minutes
  • Language English