Barbara Isn’t Dying
Alina Bronsky author Tim Mohr translator
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Europa Editions (UK) Ltd
Published:17th Jul '25
Should be back in stock very soon
A bittersweet and hilarious novel about a marriage whose decades-old routine is suddenly upended.
"Darkly funny."—The Times
Walter Schmidt has lived his whole life within the narrow, comfortable confines of traditional gender roles: he has made it to retirement without learning how to fry an egg or use a vacuum cleaner. After all, he could always count on his wife, Barbara. But, when one morning she can’t —or won’t! —get up from bed anymore, everything changes.
With biting humour and great warmth, Alina Bronsky writes about how Walter, nearing the end of his life, is suddenly forced to reinvent himself as a caregiver and househusband, and become the caring partner he never was in all his years with Barbara. Little by little, Walter’s rough facade begins to crumble, and with it his old certainties about his life and family.
"In a novel that otherwise feels like a happy blend of Anne Tyler and Jonas Jonasson, there’s some perverse comfort in the gritty, human truth that it’s very hard for old dogs to learn new tricks." * The Times *
"This eventful, life-affirming story is full of compassion, offering hope that despite the passing of time it is possible to change. An endearing and unique tale." * Buzz Magazine *
“Bronsky excels in relating heartache through a narrator who refuses to acknowledge it...insightful and subversive, funny and disturbing.” * Financial Times *
“A wise, carefully constructed novel about fragile hidden identities.” * The Washington Post *
“Warm, poignant and acerbically funny... a sharp-eyed and unsentimental character study.” * Star Tribune *
“Hilarious, disturbing, and always irreverent.” * Kirkus Reviews *
"Thrilling and moving in equal measure." * Berliner Zeitung *
ISBN: 9781787705814
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
192 pages