Hausfrau

Haunting . . . Beautifully written, the ennui of its Anna Karenina-esque heroine's deceptively perfect life as a Swiss housewife seeps from every page * Best books of 2015, Harper’s Bazaar *

Hausfrau may be the Fifty Shades of literary fiction . . . This debut brilliantly chronicles a woman's
life falling apart . . . The novel's mood is, like Anna's, dreamy and dissociated . . . It is a brilliantly sustained examination of self-induced loneliness and pathological alienation.

* The Times *
It's the book that will have everyone talking . . . * Cosmopolitan *
This slow-burning literary novel of marital disintegration will leave you in bits. It's a bleak, but beautiful read, with echoes of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. * Glamour *
A racy mix of Gone Girl and 50 Shades. * Grazia *
There are echoes in Hausfrau of those other frustrated wives, Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina * Independent on Sunday *
It is that impossible thing: a page-turner about depression. * Observer *
A rare and remarkable debut. * Janet Fitch, bestselling author of White Oleander *
An exceptional debut . . . [with] a heart-stopping climax . . . this portrait of a woman on the edge lingers long in the memory. * The Bookseller *
I read this at a sitting, transfixed by this insightful and shocking portrait of a woman on the edge. -- Fanny Blake * Woman and Home *
2015 is shaping up to be a top year for books. Jill Alexander Essbaum's Hausfrau is a beautiful dissection of a marriage in crisis and a modern-day Anna Karenina tale. * Glamour magazine, Entertainment 2015: The Ultimate Edit *
A book club winner. * Stylist, The Debut Authors to Read in 2015 *
A remarkable, captivating debut. I was hooked from the first line. * Paula Daly *
The Girls-level frankness of the sex scenes set against the cleverly drawn Swiss banality add to the strangely hypnotic reading experience. You'll want to discuss it immediately * The Debrief *
A tense novel about morality, fidelity and identity. * Elle *
A piercingly astute psychological portrait of a woman sleepwalking to self-destruction. * The National *
A powerful, lyrical novel, Hausfrau plumbs the psychology of a lonely, unfaithful housewife and unravels the connections between our words and our deeds. * Huffington Post *
The obvious appeal of the writing is in its clever restraint and artful use of rhythm . . . The reader's attempt to understand the unhappiness of a woman surrounded by the trappings of a successful life paves the way to her character's literary predecessors, Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina * Sydney Morning Herald *
Hausfrau has already generated a lot of interest, with comparisons ranging from Gone GirltoAnna Karenina . . . She's somewhat amoral and not particularly likeable, but she is an absolutely fascinating heroine and, still, strangely sympathetic * Emerald Street *
Utterly compelling . . . Her searing honesty ensures the book is both gripping and wonderfully refreshing * Stylist *
This novel had me from the first line: 'Anna was a good wife, mostly.' . . . An intense and chilling portrait of a woman on a mission to self-destruct. -- Fanny Blake * Daily Mail *
A graphic study of adultery, Hausfrau will cause a stir * Sunday Times *
Ruthlessly well-written . . . It is bleak but compelling, all the way to the tragic end * Sunday Times Ireland *
To the steaminess of EL James's erotic classic, it adds the marital dysfunction of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girland the commuter neuroses of Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train. There won't be a sun lounger or beach bag without it this summer * Sunday Telegraph *
Looks set to be a summer smash * The Sun *