House of women - Lynn Freed

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.