"Cheerful, clever, and full of compassion." WDR 3, Mosaik

"Sprinkling what could be a sad tale with plenty of welcome humor, Bronsky makes us root for her unlikely hero." Booklist

Walter Schmidt has lived his life within the comfortable confines of a traditional marriage. He doesn't know how to fry an egg or use a vacuum cleaner. His wife Barbara has taken care of such things while also rearing their children and managing their social life. Walter has always been able to count on Barbara. Then, one morning, she won't get out of bed and everything changes.

In this bittersweet and darkly funny novel, Alina Bronsky tells the story of a man called Walter who in the twilight of his life is suddenly forced to reinvent himself and start from scratch.

"A wise, carefully constructed novel about fragile hidden identities, whose ending reads like a deeply felt beginning." Elena Lappin, The Washington Post

"Warm, poignant and acerbically funny...A sharp-eyed and unsentimental character study of one man and his blinkered view of the world around him." Malcolm Forbes, Star Tribune