REVIEW: Hausfrau: a novel

By Jill Alexander Essbaum

You would think that Anna, a 37-year-old American, would be a happy and content person. She’s married to a handsome Swiss banker, has a nice home, three beautiful children, and lives in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. However, Anna is miserable. She’s never learned Schwiizerdutsch, which is the language spoken in the Zurich region. It’s similar to German, but enough differences make it difficult to understand. She really hasn’t learned German either, even though she’s lived there for nine years.

What is making Anna unhappy? Her husband is a cold person and not very understanding. Her mother-in-law, who babysits quite often for Anna’s children, is impatient and not a very warm and loving person. She’s made very few friends. Her therapist tries to encourage her to be more outgoing and participate more in Swiss culture and to make new friends.

In one of her loneliest, desperate periods she begins an affair with an American man. When he returns to America, she is devastated. In her German class she meets Archie from Scotland and begins another torrid affair. When she attends a party, she meets a friend of the family and has an affair with him. What are the consequences of having these affairs? What happens when a horrific tragedy occurs? Will Anna ever be happy?

— Susan McSwain, Mount Pleasant Regional Library, Mount Pleasant, S.C.

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