The Home-Maker

A bestseller upon its publication, The Home-Maker is about an ordinary family in New England – with a twist. Deeply felt, wonderfully observed, the novel interrogates the absurdly rigid, gendered parenting expectations many still face today. Above all, it is a tender portrait of love.

Evangeline and Lester Knapp are getting by. Eva is a home-maker, looking after their three children and the house full-time, and Lester is a department store clerk. At work, Lester is uncomfortable and unfulfilled. At home, Eva is fed up and frustrated with the never-ending stream of chaos and responsibilities she faces.

Lester is suddenly confined to the house when he loses his job and injures himself in a rooftop fall. The couple step into radically different roles. Eva starts work at the department store instead and excels in her role, impressing everybody with her knowledge, tact and skill. Meanwhile Lester can now joyfully observe his children growing up. Yet their unusual arrangement surely cannot last for long.

The Home-Maker is part of the Persephone Audiobook Collection, a series of forgotten classics including neglected fiction and non-fiction by women writers. First published in 1924, this edition includes a preface by Karen Knox and an afterword by Elaine Showalter.