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The Home for Unwed Husbands
" A delight of a novel. Brilliant. All the characters developed in fascinating and unpredictable ways." Leslie Daniels, author of Cleaning Nabokov's House . Molly Giles is the WINNER of a Pushcart Prize, The Flannery O' Connor Prize and The Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize.
At forty-four, Kay Sorensen has quit drinking, smoking, and overeating, and she has almost quit reading self-help books about quitting drinking, smoking and overeating. She has divorced her deadbeat husband, finished college, and landed a job she loves directing a small branch of the county library.
But Kay still has one unconquered she just can’t say no to someone who needs her.
Praise for other books by Molly Giles “What an irreverent, original voice!”
– Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club "Roll over, Evelyn Waugh, here's Molly Giles. She's the authentic satiric voice – a rare bird in American Letters – wicked, affectionate, and amused."
– Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun "Molly Giles is the funniest writer of tragedy this country possesses."
– Lucy Ferriss, author of The Misconceiver "Molly Giles is like a dancer who can't put a foot down wrong."
– Cyra McFadden, author of The Serial
At forty-four, Kay Sorensen has quit drinking, smoking, and overeating, and she has almost quit reading self-help books about quitting drinking, smoking and overeating. She has divorced her deadbeat husband, finished college, and landed a job she loves directing a small branch of the county library.
But Kay still has one unconquered she just can’t say no to someone who needs her.
Praise for other books by Molly Giles “What an irreverent, original voice!”
– Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club "Roll over, Evelyn Waugh, here's Molly Giles. She's the authentic satiric voice – a rare bird in American Letters – wicked, affectionate, and amused."
– Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun "Molly Giles is the funniest writer of tragedy this country possesses."
– Lucy Ferriss, author of The Misconceiver "Molly Giles is like a dancer who can't put a foot down wrong."
– Cyra McFadden, author of The Serial
272 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2023
68 people want to read
About the author
Molly Giles
29 books29 followersMolly Giles’ newest collection of short stories, Wife With Knife, recently won the Leap Frog Fiction Contest and will be published in October of 2021. She has published four previous prize winning collections of stories: Rough Translations, which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the Boston Globe Award, and the the Bay Area Book Reviewers’ Award; Creek Walk, which won the Small Press Best Fiction Award, the California Commonwealth Silver Medal for Fiction, and was a New York Times Notable Book; Bothered, which won the Split Oak Press Flash Fiction Award and All the Wrong Places, which won the Spokane Prize for Fiction. She has also published a novel, Iron Shoes, and an ebook of stories, Three for the Road. Her work has been included in numerous anthologies including the O.Henry and Pushcart Prize (twice) and she has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Marin Arts Council, and the Arkansas Arts Council.
Molly has taught fiction writing at San Francisco State University, University of Hawaii in Manoa, San Jose State University, the National University of Ireland at Galway, the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and at numerous writing conferences, including The Community of Writers and Naropa. She has won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Book Reviewing, been awarded residences at MacDowell, Yadoo, and The House of Literature in Paros, Greece, and has edited many published writers, including Amy Tan.
Molly has taught fiction writing at San Francisco State University, University of Hawaii in Manoa, San Jose State University, the National University of Ireland at Galway, the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and at numerous writing conferences, including The Community of Writers and Naropa. She has won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Book Reviewing, been awarded residences at MacDowell, Yadoo, and The House of Literature in Paros, Greece, and has edited many published writers, including Amy Tan.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 8, 2023
An intriguing character examination.
Love the way Molly Giles creates unique characters. I wanted to scream at Kay throughout the book to just get these men out of her life and say NO, but that is something she had to learn along the way.
Love the way Molly Giles creates unique characters. I wanted to scream at Kay throughout the book to just get these men out of her life and say NO, but that is something she had to learn along the way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2023
A marvelous and hilarious new novel from one of our most amazing writers! "He fought with a rapier, I fought with a popsicle stick," the masterful way she handles the layabout boyfriend and Dad, the suspense of Where's Orville, the snake in the house, the brilliance of her recasting her one restful moment at the campsite: the swallows actually being bats, smoke not campfire but dope and the screaming kids, her perfect dialogue, her description of her son at the cusp of becoming someone else, the musician boyfriend's playlist running from "Heather's Smile" to "Georgia's Smile" to her smile, the wonderful way the main character finally returns her self-help library book. And those were just the pages I turned down!
September 8, 2023
Loved it! Wickedly funny, with a wild and unruly cast of characters, whose different arcs mesh in a resounding finale.
April 11, 2024
An assortment of hopeless men and one woman on a slow learning curve.
February 13, 2026
A very depressing read but gripping all the way through. Reminded me its important to remember even the hardest times don’t last forever.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews