Wifehouse
A captivating, sharply resonant novel about a mother who chooses to leave
Will be published approx. on 23. April 2026
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-1-78658-638-4 (ISBN)
Description
"Je suis femme maison."
"You are a wifehouse? Oh, a housewife. Je suis une femme au foyer."
"Wow, that actually sounds worse in French. Let's go with je suis mere."
He is drenched in youth, this young man, she thinks. He is soaked in all its possibilities.
Following years of a life lived as a wife and mother, Annie is gifted French lessons with twenty-six-year-old local French tutor, Thierry. As time passes and the lessons progress, she finds herself unexpectedly vulnerable to the charms of a man closer in age to her teenage daughter than to her own. A new life for Annie emerges, one she could never have foreseen . . .
Told over the course of one year through the shifting perspectives of wife, husband, lover, best friend and children, Walger paints a contradictory, nuanced portrait of a woman who walks away from every role that tradition and society have expected of her.
"You are a wifehouse? Oh, a housewife. Je suis une femme au foyer."
"Wow, that actually sounds worse in French. Let's go with je suis mere."
He is drenched in youth, this young man, she thinks. He is soaked in all its possibilities.
Following years of a life lived as a wife and mother, Annie is gifted French lessons with twenty-six-year-old local French tutor, Thierry. As time passes and the lessons progress, she finds herself unexpectedly vulnerable to the charms of a man closer in age to her teenage daughter than to her own. A new life for Annie emerges, one she could never have foreseen . . .
Told over the course of one year through the shifting perspectives of wife, husband, lover, best friend and children, Walger paints a contradictory, nuanced portrait of a woman who walks away from every role that tradition and society have expected of her.
Reviews / Votes
Sonya Walger brings together the quiet outer worlds of her characters and the explosive passions of their inner lives with indelible beauty, richness, and precision. Wifehouse reads like a storm in a soundproof room. I absolutely loved it. * Miranda Cowley Heller, international bestselling author of The Paper Palace *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bonnier Books Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 242 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
520 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78658-638-4 (9781786586384)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Sonya Walger is a British-American actress, writer and podcaster. Walger began her career as a film and television actress in 1998 and is perhaps best known for her role as Penny Widmore in the ABC series Lost and later for starring as Molly Cobb in the Apple TV+ original For All Mankind. A student of English literature at Christ Church College at the University of Oxford and host of the literature podcast bookish, Walger is a long-time literary enthusiast whose debut novel Lion is a work of autofiction about her relationship with her father.