WIFEHOUSE

For readers of COMMONWEALTH, LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE, and ALL FOURS, a novel about a loving mother and devoted wife who chooses to leave her family for a much younger man; about the consequences of that decision; and about what it means for her to find herself in abandoning others.

For readers of Ann Patchett and Taffy Brodessener-Akner, WIFEHOUSE is a complicated portrait of a loving mother and devoted wife, Annie, who after a lifetime of putting the happiness of others first, chooses to leave her family for a 26-year-old French tutor. It's a novel about what it means to become a mother who leaves what it means to her loved ones, yes, but more than that, what it means to find herself in abandoning others. Moving away from literary autofiction, WIFEHOUSE is a more plot-driven and realist novel than Sonya's debut, but it maintains the stunning prose that's becoming Sonya's hallmark. Annie and Hector have allowed their friends Candace and Edouard and their son, Remy, to occupy the guest house of their upstate New York home while Candace and Edouard's home undergoes seemingly endless renovations. When the two families gather for a Christmas dinner that for some reason includes Remy's twenty-six-year-old French tutor, Thierry, Annie and Hector's ostensibly stable homelife begins to splinter. Annie is astonished to find herself blushing and self-conscious in front of Thierry, who is attractive, attentive, inquisitive, and closer in age to her teenaged daughter than to Annie. Soon, Annie finds herself making decisions she'd never imagined that she a loving mother, devoted wife, rule follower, woman who has always put the happiness of her husband, children, and friends above her own could possibly make. Over the course of the twelve months between two Christmas days, Walger paints a messy, complicated portrait of a mother who chooses to leave, and what that decision means for her husband, lover, best friend, and children. Sonya Walger is an award-winning actress, best known for her role as Penny Widmore on LOST. She currently stars on FOR ALL MANKIND. Other career highlights include the original Broadway production of FROST/NIXON, PARENTHOOD, TELL ME YOU LOVE ME, SCANDAL, and IN TREATMENT. She studied English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford and is the host of a podcast, BOOKISH, whose guests have included Douglas Stuart, Robin Coste Lewis, Huma Abedin, Jenni Konner, Jon Hamm, and more. She was raised in England and currently lives in Los Angeles.