The Henhouse is a book for today. Dedicated to all women, it is a story about what it means to be female in an increasingly male world. It deals with hard topics such as divorce, bereavement, abuse, gender identity, family estrangement and found family. It asks the question: if a traditional family and home are denied you, what is left?
Sometimes, home is simply a state of mind
Esther said Enough! to a nowhere marriage and an increasingly hostile husband. Disrespected, mentally abused, and consistently shown she is second-best to her self-absorbed and entitled husband, Esther knows something must change. But when Esther asks for a divorce, it exposes the dark and spiteful side of her husband that she always suspected lurked under his affable surface. Needing to escape from him, Esther is rescued by her independent and strong boss, Clarice, who takes Esther to see about renting a room in her friend’s large and rambling house on the edge of Hampstead Heath.
“We were supposed to be equal partners, but we weren’t. I see that now. I can’t believe it took me so long to understand that there was you, and then a long way behind you there was me.”
Since the death of her beloved Bill, Ruth has rattled around her large home with only five dogs and her grown-up daughter for company. Missing Bill beyond belief, Ruth is forced to acknowledge how lonely she is. A kind and compassionate woman, when her friend Clarice tells her of Esther’s predicament, Ruth wants to help. Inviting Esther to rent a room in her house seems a mutually beneficial arrangement, and when the two women meet, they quickly become friends.
“It’s more than a home to me. More than the place where I was so happy with Bill. More than the place I raised my child. It’s a part of me. It’s like there’s a taproot growing from my soul into the very bones of this place.”
Chris is in love and wants to tell the world. Her girlfriend would rather the world didn’t know she’s in love with a woman. Although Chris enjoys living with her mother and their home is large enough to ensure both women have space and privacy, she longs for something more. When Chris meets Laura, she realises that a relationship needs to be give and take, but is Chris the one doing all the giving? Freshly divorced, Laura has two children to consider, and although Chris understands that they must come first, she wonders if she’ll ever be more than Laura’s dirty little secret.
“I never thought it would be possible to love anyone more than I loved Zoe, but with Laura it’s like she completes me. If she ever left me, I don’t know how I’d deal with being without her.”
Healing from surgery and estranged from an unforgiving family, Mae is alone, struggling to survive as a woman in a man’s world. Mae always knew she was different. As a child, she tried to explain that to her parents, but they could not see beyond the body their child had been born into. The only person who tried to understand was Mae’s grandmother, and it is the legacy she leaves that finally allows Mae to become the woman she always knew she was meant to be.
“You made it perfectly clear that the only way I could remain your child was if I remained your son. The moment I told you that I had to be free to be who I was inside, you bolted your door on me.”
Pregnant and afraid of her violent boyfriend, Leonora accepts a cleaning job at the big house on the edge of Hampstead Heath and finds her safe space. Love-bombed by the older and more experienced Rob, Leonora gave up everything for him. Her home, her relationship with her mother, and her place at university. Two years later, Leonora is forced to accept that Rob is far from the Prince Charming he portrayed himself to be. Now Leonora is accidentally pregnant and dealing with the consequences.
“My whole relationship with Rob was about what he wanted, his needs, his desires. It was never about me. About what I wanted or needed. He never cared about that. Cared about me in that way.”
One extraordinary house
Five very different women
Sometimes, home is simply a state of mind
Available in Paperback and eBook
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