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2003 Longlist

The Happy Housewife

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ABOUT
THE BOOK

Meet Lea, an immaculate thirtysomething, who thinks emancipation is a dirty word and that God should have made women out of plastic. Her over-worked husband, Harry, seems happy to finance her glossy lifestyle, but one day he announces it’s payback time. He wants a baby. Lea is mortified, but eventually agrees to Harry’s demand in exchange for sex on a daily basis and a new Filipino maid.
Harry Jrn’s arrival, after a labour of epic dreadfulness, puts an end to Lea’s career as a lady who lunches. While everyone around her is over the moon about the new baby, Lea is no longer a happy housewife. Stripped of her comforts and her distractions, she will have to confront herself and a past tragedy before she can face the future. But have the years of cosseting left her too vulnerable?

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Heleen
Van Royen

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Liz
Waters

After finishing her studies at the University of Manchester, Liz Waters worked for several years with English-language texts and at a literary agency in Amsterdam before becoming a full-time translator of literary fiction and non-fiction. Authors whose books she has translated include Lieve Joris, Jaap Scholten, Luuk van Middelaar, Annelies Verbeke, and Geert Mak.

After finishing her studies at the University of Manchester, Liz Waters worked for several years with English-language texts and at a literary agency in Amsterdam before becoming a full-time translator of literary fiction and non-fiction. Authors whose books she has translated include Lieve Joris, Jaap Scholten, Luuk van Middelaar, Annelies Verbeke, and Geert Mak.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
The Netherlands
Original Language
Dutch
Publisher
Virago Press
Translator
Liz Waters

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