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Nachts schwimmen

Sarah Armstrong (Goodreads Author),

Ute Brammertz (Translator)

3.53 · Rating details · 350 ratings · 55 reviews

Tagsüber kämpft Rachel um das Leben ihrer kranken Mutter, nachts entspannt sie sich beim Schwimmen. Eines Abends ist sie nicht allein. Auch Quinn, der Arzt ihrer Mutter, liebt es, in der Dunkelheit durchs Wasser zu gleiten. Jeden Tag fiebert Rachel nun dem Sonnenuntergang entgegen. Den Momenten, wenn sie nebeneinander ihre Bahnen ziehen, reden und sich näherkommen. Die lei ...more

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Paperback, 448 pages

Published July 27th 2015 by Diana Verlag (first published March 1st 2015)

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Jan 30, 2016 boogenhagen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: emo-angst, almost-real-world, betrayal

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Re His Other House - I did not read this as a romance or women's fiction - I read this one as a character study on how and why some people make decisions and others don't and how the effects of not making a choice (which is also a choice), reverberate and permeate a person's life and all who know them. This is a very good study of dysfunctional relationships and also a good study on the nature of everyday pervasive evil - how people you never would suspect just slip into a absolute moral and eth ...more

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Nov 05, 2016 Sharon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-authors, gift-from-gr-friend

Dr Quinn Davidson and his wife Marianna have spent many years going through the painstaking process of the IVF and several miscarriages. The emotional roller coaster is taking its toll on the couple and Quinn can't bare to go through anymore, simply knowing how desperate Marianna is to be a mother, Quinn doesn't know how he will tell Marianna, he wants to take a break from it all, in fact he wants a permanent break.

With tension in their marriage, Quinn finds himself attracted to a patient's dau ...more

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Jul 27, 2017 Dale Harcombe rated it liked it · review of another edition

Dr Quinn Davidson and his wife Marianna have endured years of IVF and several miscarriages. The constant trying for a baby has put a strain on their marriage. Desperate to be a mother, Marianna wants to persevere despite the most recent miscarriage but Quinn wants to call it quits on trying for a baby. It was easy to feel for this couple and think how hard it must be for those facing such a situation. Added to the strain on their marriage is Quinn working in a small town practice a few hours fro ...more

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Jun 16, 2015 John Bartlett rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Reading this book was like walking on broken glass - a very dangerous enterprise. This is a story of good people who make non-deliberate bad mistakes, perhaps because they love too much.
The three main characters in this web of confused emotions are truly all rendered in a compassionate way.
There's no judgement here about the actions they take, about the mistakes, the difficulties in which they are trapped.

But the lies and hidden lives have a truly devastating effect on everyone, in particular th ...more

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Sep 06, 2021 Camille rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: beta-male-booooo, just-desserts, married-infidelity, womens-lit, marital-strife, cheater-cheater, older-characters, evil-ow, child-pregnancy-from-cheating, favorites

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Feb 21, 2019 Katharine. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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Mar 21, 2020 Tahseen Faruqi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sort of painful to read because , the main character Quinn shows no growth through the whole book . He’s selfish and weak and you’re just waiting for him to be miserable and get what he deserves . He is cheating on his wife Marianna with Rachel . Marianna desperately wants a child and he’s basically sick of going through IVF . So instead of trying to work things out with her , he cheats on his wife with Rachel who he meets when he’s tending to her mother who is one of his patients . He winds up Sort of painful to read because , the main character Quinn shows no growth through the whole book . He’s selfish and weak and you’re just waiting for him to be miserable and get what he deserves . He is cheating on his wife Marianna with Rachel . Marianna desperately wants a child and he’s basically sick of going through IVF . So instead of trying to work things out with her , he cheats on his wife with Rachel who he meets when he’s tending to her mother who is one of his patients . He winds up getting his wife and mistress pregnant at the same time . He’s unable to leave his wife when she’s pregnant , even though that is what he promises the mistress . This drags on for five years and then the mistress insists he tell the wife . After he tells the wife , the mistress doesn’t want to stay with him either . The kids are cute and you feel for them and Marianna . But Quinn is a wishy washy loser and you can’t feel sorry for him or Rachel really because she did choose to be involved with a married man and he’s a cheat , who wasted precious years of his wife’s life who he knew he was going to leave . He keeps saying he’s more himself with Rachel and he feels more comfortable with her , because he’s a loser and she is too . The ending was abrupt , I did want to read that Marianne was happy and moved on with another man . The ending was somewhat satisfying because he does end up alone as Rachel dumps him too . It made no sense that she pushed him to tell his wife but didn’t want to stay with him in the end , I guess she mentions because she can’t trust him because he’s so duplicitous , but she was too so I don’t get the hang up .

There is one scene in the book when Marianna( the wife ) goes upon Addies insistence to where Quinn lives with his other family , where Addie has a complete meltdown banging her head against the floor , kicking and screaming , biting , eating dirt that is heart wrenching . Marianna soothes her . Then a few hours later when it is time for bed , at Rachel ‘s( the mistress) insistence he sleeps with her in her bed . Not on the pullout in neutral territory . At that point I just hated Quinn and Rachel the most , incredibly selfish and frankly mean people . He was Addies father ( and still Mariannas husband ) and after that huge breakdown by Addie he couldn’t give her , his child and wife , the small comfort of not sleeping with his mistress in front of them . He was irredeemable I felt at this point for Addie . He was simply mean I felt to Marianna , he couldn’t give his wife the mother of his child just a little comfort or respect . Was she just garbage in comparison to Rachel ? I sincerely hope Marianna finds another man a good step father for Addie and somehow or other gets more children and lives a happy life , and I hope that Quinn and Rachel end up alone and miserable .

I did feel incredibly sorry for the kids , especially Addie who I think will never be able to get over how her father
“ chose “ his other family . It just galled me that on one hand he’s crying that she’s hurting herself ( self harm ) and on the other hand he keeps putting off taking her to his “ other house” . Then he has the nerve to blame Marianna for bringing her . I think the reason I hated him was his complete disregard for the wife . How can you be with someone for so many years and not care about them at all ? He showed ZERO REMORSE TO MARIANNA. I wish Marianna had at least slapped him a couple of times , he was just a habitual liar and my heart broke for her when she realized she had never experienced love in her life . She thinks that when she sees him at Rachel’s house .

Ned , the other child , had more of an innate ability to soothe himself , but I think ultimately he will move away from his messed up parents . His mother was a selfish piece of work too , cheating on her partner and being involved with a married man , then promptly dumping him when he finally tells the wife . Not that he didn’t deserve it though . Ned , I feel would be messed up in the long run with two parents such as his . At least Addies mother wasn’t a habitual liar and cheat .

I would love an epilogue , and the story was very well written , I didn’t understand the Tabbano thing was that supposed to give some insight into Quinn ?

...more

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Apr 27, 2015 Lisa Walker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

His Other House’ is Sarah Armstrong’s second book, coming ten years after her Miles Franklin shortlisted debut novel, ‘Salt Rain.’ Both books are set in the Northern Rivers Region and the lush environment is an intrinsic part of the story.

‘His Other House’ is a tense domestic drama focusing on a love triangle of sorts. The book was inspired, Armstrong says, by a news story she read about a man who lived a double life with two wives and two families for many years.

Quinn is a doctor whose marria His Other House’ is Sarah Armstrong’s second book, coming ten years after her Miles Franklin shortlisted debut novel, ‘Salt Rain.’ Both books are set in the Northern Rivers Region and the lush environment is an intrinsic part of the story.

‘His Other House’ is a tense domestic drama focusing on a love triangle of sorts. The book was inspired, Armstrong says, by a news story she read about a man who lived a double life with two wives and two families for many years.

Quinn is a doctor whose marriage is pushed to its limits by efforts to have a much longed-for child. A succession of IVF rounds and miscarriages leave him drained and needing a break, but his wife Marianna wants to press on with another attempt. She can’t see how her life will ever be complete without a child.

While Quinn lives in Brisbane he is doing a stint as a visiting doctor in Corimbi, a town much like Mullumbimby. Here he meets Rachel, a disillusioned journalist taking a break from her job. A night-time swim in the town pool leads to an unplanned kiss and soon Quinn and Rachel are involved in a passionate affair.

Quinn’s intention to leave Marianna is tested when she unexpectedly falls naturally pregnant. It is at this stage that the tension ratchets up. Quinn decides to keep his relationship with Rachel a secret, a decision which involves him in a web of lies. ‘He was dismayed how readily he took to lying. He’d always thought of it as a decisive abandonment of the truth. Instead, he realised, it was simply a matter of one word slipping into the place of another.’ While it would be easy to judge Quinn, by now we know him so well that we can only empathise, even if we suspect that it’s going to end badly.

The time this novel has taken to come to fruition shows in its insight and many delightful turns of phrase. As in ‘Salt Rain’ Sarah’s writing is evocative and striking. While all the characters are believable and finely drawn, it is the children who linger most strongly in my memory. ‘His Other House’ is both a page-turner and a powerful story of morality within relationships.
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May 16, 2015 Liz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

I loved this book & would have given it four & a half stars if able. I was instantly drawn in to the story & found it hard to put down. Without giving too much of the story away it's about Quinn, a doctor who ends up having two homes & families with children born only months apart. He knows what he is doing is morally wrong but desperately wants to protect the children & enjoy their childhood for as long as he is able.
Whilst Quinn was obviously not behaving in an open & honest way with at least ...more

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Feb 01, 2015 Carolyn Docking rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really liked this book. It kept me intrigued from start to finish. I really wanted to know what was going to happen to Quinn and whether his world was going to explode. The characters were captured really well and I almost felt I knew them and their idiosyncrasies. The plot moved along really well and kept me from wanting to put the book down. It was very readable with easy language. It was a novel that could so easily be a real life saga. It showed how easily someone can get swept away in lie ...more

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Nov 08, 2015 Adele H rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Sarah Armstrong has written this novel with creativity, care & emotion. Complicated lives of three main adult characters and two beautiful children. What could have easily been a storyline that was predictable Armstrong has given depth to this novel; this depth involves the reader and gives it the body which makes the reader want to continue and discover how this storyline could possibly end in a happy place.

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Feb 23, 2015 Ally Van Schilt rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars. The concept of the book was fantastic, even if it felt like it had been done before. This made it a really easy read. It's hard in these types of books to know just where your sympathies lie - they've all got massive crosses to bear. Loved the use of scenery, but in the end it was just "okay" for me. ...more

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Mar 11, 2016 Zanni Louise rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I couldn't put this book down. Apart from it being set in an area I am very familiar with, the scenes and characters in this story are so alive. I felt so compassionate for every character, despite their misgivings, and even by the end, I was questioning who was right, and what 'right' even meant. A very cleverly crafted story. ...more

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Feb 14, 2017 Andrea Barnett rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As a child of a father who lived such a double life, I appreciated the depth Armstrong gave all the characters, and the moral quandary Quinn navigates. No matter that people are people and fall in and out of love I can't overemphasize how devastating it is to encounter strange children calling your father daddy. ...more

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Apr 17, 2015 Ann Graham rated it liked it · review of another edition

Interesting story, probably something that happens from time to time a man leading a double life with two families on the go. Quite well written, with believable characters.

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Jul 03, 2017 A Reader's Heaven rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: australian, contemporary, net-galley, womens-fiction

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Dr Quinn Davidson and his wife Marianna have endured years of unsuccessful IVF and several miscarriages, and Quinn can't face another painful attempt to conceive. Marianna is desperate to be a mother and their marriage is feeling the strain. At a small-town practice a few hours from their home, Quinn meets Rachel, the daughter of one of his patients. Drawn to each other, it's not long before they find themselv ...more

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Feb 14, 2021 Renate Chandler rated it liked it · review of another edition

I went to the author's website and read her thoughts on the book and how she can identify with all her characters. And I don't know why but I don't find that so easy. The book is well written and the characters are believable but for some reason they don't stick with me. I finished this book only a few days ago and already I'm beginning to forget it. Maybe the fact that Marianna gets pregnant so suddenly at the most inconvenient time for Quinn is a bit too much. Or maybe it's because I can't fee ...more

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Feb 26, 2018 Sue rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: relationships, families, marriage, adultery, choices, favorites

Thought this would be too obvious but lots of surprises in what is allowed to keep happening. I found it quite believable tho I can see that others might find it incredible. Very readable.

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Oct 11, 2018 Jenny Hayworth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Heart wrenching

I got lost in the words and lost track of time. The story filled my head. A gift of a true writer.

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Jan 20, 2019 Kristy Cunningham rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Best book ever! What happens now? I want more to read. I feel like the book isn't finished yet. ...more

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Mar 11, 2019 Bethany rated it liked it · review of another edition

It was a bit slow to start but once it got going it kind of reminded me of my bad habits with sims. Complicated lifes. I ended up feeling sad and sorry for everyone. Especially the kids.

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Sep 06, 2019 Adele rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book gripped me made me cry and was so well written loving this author and my fav pet so Aussie love Australia ...

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Mar 03, 2020 Suzan rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This is a brutal read.

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Sep 07, 2020 Techdivakt rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: double-life

Loser POS husband and father. Total douche bag

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Oct 26, 2020 Pamela Cramer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Great book with a real life kind of ending

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Nov 17, 2015 Sharon Metcalf rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014-2015

Oh my goodness, another great Australian author. I simply cannot believe this one sat on my shelves from March to November unread. Nicole bought it for me for my birthday and I somehow had it in my head it was a bit too scary for me..or something. I don't know. I know now it was only published in March this year so I've had it since it was hot off the press. Anyway, yesterday when it was time to choose which book I'd start next I just plucked if off my shelf and thought what the heck, I'll just Oh my goodness, another great Australian author. I simply cannot believe this one sat on my shelves from March to November unread. Nicole bought it for me for my birthday and I somehow had it in my head it was a bit too scary for me..or something. I don't know. I know now it was only published in March this year so I've had it since it was hot off the press. Anyway, yesterday when it was time to choose which book I'd start next I just plucked if off my shelf and thought what the heck, I'll just give it a go. And from then on I couldn't put the blasted thing down. I loved the characters and although it was similar to the Pilots Wife in that this guy had two families and one of them was completely oblivious, this time it was from the perspective of the new relationship between Rachel and Quinn. But that's not to say we didn't get to know his first wife because we did and there was a real sense of the love Quinn had for Marianna although they were going through a tough time having just experienced their fourth miscarriage. Marrianna desperately wants to keep trying for another baby and Quinn has reached the point where he wants to give up and accept they'll be childless. So things are not good between them but they're not bad either. They still seem to be in love and he definitely wants her to be happy. It's during this time that Quinn meets Rachel, his next door neighbour (two or three nights a week) and the daughter of one of his terminal patients. They are attracted to each other and Rachel needs the distraction of lusting after him to take her mind off her mothers impending death. The first half of the book is all about their growing relationship and part one ends on the day when Quinn has gone back to Brisbane to tell Marianna that he's fallen in love with someone else and that he's leaving her. On this very day Marianna beats him to the punch by producing a positive pregnancy test and telling him she's pregnant. Part two starts six years down the track and it seems that he and Rachel have settled down and they have a child of their own. However, all is not as it first seems. Yes they have a son, 5 year old Ned, but he still hasn't told Marianna about his divided life and Rachel and Ned are not acknoweldged publically as his family. Rachel has decided enough is enough and has told Quinn he needs to tell Ned and Marianna and Adie (his 5 year old daughter) or she will. He bites the bullet and does so, but it completely backfires. Marianna is devasted; Adie isn't coping with missing her Daddy and even Rachel and Ned who should be the most happy are all unsettled because Adie and Marianna have intruded on their homelife. Even though I can't stand the idea that this could possibly happen, nor the lies that must go along with living a life like this, I still wanted the happily ever after. On the last page I turned expecting one last chapter and was so disappointed that it ended without really getting a hint that things were going to be okay. Well maybe there was a small hint of possibility but I wanted it spelled out for me. It was a good book. A really good book and I've just googled it and this was her second novel so I shall be looking out for Salt Rain. The following text was published in a book review and sums it up perfectly "Armstrong ploughs the rich field of human emotions and, simply put, His Other House is about a man caught in the web of his own deceit ... Armstrong keeps up the tension superbly, especially surrounding the potential dangers to small children … [She] maintains a high standard of writing throughout, deftly fleshing out the other characters ... A sombre work, His Other House is a tale well told. If you want heaps of jollies or moralistic assumptions, go elsewhere. But if you like a well-crafted work of art, then Armstrong’s your woman". ...more

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Mar 24, 2015 Cassie Hamer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

From time to time you hear about it – the man who led the double life, who had two families, two wives, two houses.

If you’re anything like me, your first thought is – ‘What a bastard! What a conman!’

But life is never that simple, and what Sarah Armstrong invites us to do in His Other House, is to understand how seemingly ‘good’ people can end up in bad situations.

Quinn Davidson is, ostensibly, a decent man – a caring doctor who makes some terrible decisions in his personal life. ‘He was dismayed From time to time you hear about it – the man who led the double life, who had two families, two wives, two houses.

If you’re anything like me, your first thought is – ‘What a bastard! What a conman!’

But life is never that simple, and what Sarah Armstrong invites us to do in His Other House, is to understand how seemingly ‘good’ people can end up in bad situations.

Quinn Davidson is, ostensibly, a decent man – a caring doctor who makes some terrible decisions in his personal life. ‘He was dismayed how readily he took to lying. He’d always thought of it as a decisive abandonment of the truth. Instead, he realised, it was simply a matter of one word slipping into the place of another.’

The novel promotes the idea that morality is never a fixed compass. It is buoy without anchor that floats with the current, tossed about by uncertainty, instinct and context. All of these characters have a sense of what is ‘right’ but the fallout from the decisions they make reveal that one’s conscience is an imperfect guide.

Yet still, we feel for them.

Armstrong provides close and intimate access to the interior lives of her main characters. We understand how they think and feel. While we may disagree with the decisions they make, we are never in doubt as to the thought (or lack thereof) that went into them.

‘As she walked past him to the door, he reached out his hand, as if in slow motion, and took hold of her forearm. In that moment it was very straightforward: he wanted her more than he wanted to be a faithful husband.’

The setting is evocatively drawn and a strong sense of place permeates the work, particularly the writing around ‘Corimbi’ the fictional town where much of the action takes place.

Rachel unpegged the sheet from the Hills Hoist and pressed the cotton to her cheek. The damp twilight fell around her as the crickets started up their rasping. How many hundreds of times had her mother taken sheets off this line for Rachel’s bed? This was motherhood, she thought. Countless small, domestic acts of love.’

I left this book with an overwhelming sense of sadness, but also a renewed commitment to mindfulness with the understanding that the trajectory of life is not determined by a set of major, key moments and decisions, but by the spaces in between – the small, almost unconscious acts that reveal who we truly are. ...more

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Jun 13, 2017 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Thoughtful, slow moving and well written. A man makes some really bad decisions, mostly out of weakness and selfishness, BUT also in a way trying to make the best of a bad situation! It all ends up kicking him in the face & hurting everyone in the family. Quite hard to read at the end, especially the way his two five-year-old kids were so clearly traumatised. They were so lovely, bright, happy & normal before. I have a four-year-old so it probably struck a particular chord for me. At that age th ...more

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Apr 20, 2015 Marisa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I received a copy from Netgalley, In exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantastic read, I found the protagonist very distasteful but yet in the end I found myself feeling very strongly to protect the little boy within him.

I felt really sorry for all the characters in this story but mainly the children, because of how broken everything was. Having to carry on life with one family but to navigate through life with two is just selfish and a betrayal to both families. The stresses of trying to ...more

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Jan 18, 2017 Amanda Wells rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

4.5 / 5
Another book I picked up 'just because', without reading about what other people thought of it, or really too much about the plot at all. Another book where that's gone quite well for me! I think if I'd read the synopsis I might have left it alone. But I truly enjoyed the careful weaving of believable, sympathetic and flawed people in this story.

Much like in my experience of life lately, there are events, there are choices, and there are emotions. And logic or 'smooth story' might dictat ...more

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About Sarah Armstrong

Sarah Armstrong

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Sarah was a journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation before writing three novels, Salt Rain , which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, 'His Other House' and 'Promise'. Her first novel for kids is 'Big Magic.' http://www.sarah-armstrong ...more