House of Women - Softcover

Lynn Freed

2.9

225 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007133316 ISBN 13: 9780007133314

Publisher: Flamingo, 2003

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A dreamy fable of a mother and daughter forced apart, and of their relations with their men. 'The rule is this: I am to pretend that my other life does not exist.' Seventeen year-old Thea lives with her mother Natalia, a bitter and fading diva, in tranquil but tense retreat from the world of men. Raised to know that men are devils, growing up sheltered in their idyllic house, Thea is both fearful and insolent, curious and naive, not sure whether she should feel privileged or stifled by her odd existence. But her innocence is shattered when the Syrian, a rich and powerful cousin of her father to whom she has been promised, walks into her home and her life like a divine power. Plucking her out of her cocoon, he traces his finger across her skin, dresses her in a new bride's finery, and sails her off to his island where she discovers a different kind of imprisonment! Deeply enigmatic, sensous and thrilling, House of Women is a searing story of mothers and daughters, of ties that bind, of prisons we choose to live inside and those chosen for us. It is both a deeply haunting fable and a delightful, enchanting piece of escapism.

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About the Author:

Lynn Freed is the author of three previous books, Home Ground, The Bungalow and The Mirror. She lives in Sonoma, California.

From Publishers Weekly:

Secrets twine around secrets in this haunting, intimate novel about the power of desire and the stifling force of isolation. Born to a wealthy womanizer and a vain opera singer, Theadora grows up on an estate with her mother, Nalia, at the southern tip of Africa. She is both spoiled and sheltered, never allowed to leave home unescorted. When Nalia goes inland for weekend sessions with her therapist, Katzenbogen, the maid, Maude, is left in charge. No man, not even Thea's father, is allowed up to the house. Later, it is clear why the gate is always padlocked; unbeknownst to her, 17-year-old Thea has been promised to her father's middle-aged cousin, a Syrian. He takes advantage of Thea's eagerness to see the world beyond her front yard, not to mention her yearning for male attention, and lures her from her haven. They quickly marry aboard a ship "And so it is done. I am to be married to a man whose name I do not know" and speed off to his nameless island home. Only there does Thea realize that this adventure might have serious consequences and question why the Syrian wanted her. The truth hardens her resolve to escape and see her mother again. Like a Jean Rhys antiheroine, Theadora strikes out fiercely against the world, but is helpless in the face of male desire. And like Rhys, Freed (The Mirror) imagines a world in which major events are only ambiguously described, but domestic details are sensuously immediate. This otherworldly tale philosophizes smartly on what it is to crave love and to sacrifice clarity for passion. 3-city author tour.

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