The year is 1940, and Rhoda Taber is pregnant with her first child. Satisfied with her comfortable house in a New Jersey suburb and her reliable husband, Leonard, she expects that her life will be predictable and secure. Surprised by an untimely death, an unexpected illness, and the contrary natures of her two daughters, Rhoda finds that fate undermines her sense of entitlement and security. Shrewd, wry, and sometimes bitter, Rhoda reveals herself to be a wonderfully flawed and achingly real woman caught up in the unexpectedness of her own life.

About the Author
Joan Silber is the author of eight works of fiction. Among many awards and honors, she has won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction and has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City.

Reviews
"In this remarkable novel, Joan Silber pegs the confusion and complexity of an era, a place, a marriage, and, above all, motherhood as she brilliantly traces the arc of one woman's life. Deeply felt, funny, and profoundly resonant, Household Words is simply an extraordinary book, with a heroine as compelling and mysterious as Flaubert's Emma Bovary." -- Kate Walbert, author of She Was Like That
"Examines an entire life with such shimmering detail that we sense the texture of the protagonists as deeply as we feel our own...A novel full of dignity and humanity." -- New York Times Book Review
"A brave, wise, quite nearly heart-breaking book." -- Ms.
"I began reading [Household Words] and then gave up everything else-work, meals, walks-until I was finished and I emerged into the sunlight, dazed." -- Mona Simpson, from the introduction



Book Information
ISBN 9780393328233
Author Joan Silber
Format Paperback
Page Count 350
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 434g
Dimensions(mm) 208mm * 140mm * 23mm