American Housewife - Tapa dura

`Helen Ellis's electric short stories are whip-smart and sparky, crackling with dark humour and the kind of unruly thinking that can get a woman in and out of all kinds of trouble' -- S Magazine `A rambunctious collection of desperate housewives stories written by the helmstress of Twitter's @WhatIDoAllDay' -- Grazia `This compendium of stories by Helen Ellis, teetering on the brink of reality TV and Criminal Minds will send chills down your perfectly postured spine' -- Irish Tatler `When people find out I'm a housewife, they wonder if I'm being ironic or satirical. Why - when so many artists have portrayed the housewife so beautifully - would I ever let the word go? Here are five of the best' -- `The List: Five American Housewives' feature by Helen Ellis, FT Weekend 'This is one of the most perfect books of all time. This is one of the most perfect books of all time. The type of book that you find yourself forcing on everyone you know saying, "Your life will not be complete until you read this book."' * The Pool * `A collection of witty, acerbic short stories about the demons in every dream home. One story made me blink because I thought my eyes were deceiving me. Dorothy Parker meets The Real Housewives of New York City' -- Red Magazine

Meet the women of American Housewife... They smoke their eyes and paint their lips. They channel Beyonce while doing household chores. They drown their sorrows with Chanel No. 5 and host book clubs where chardonnay trumps Charles Dickens. They redecorate. And they are quietly capable of kidnapping, breaking and entering, and murder. These women know the rules of a well-lived life: replace your tights every winter, listen to erotic audio books while you scrub the bathroom floor, serve what you want to eat at your dinner parties, and accept it: you're too old to have more than one drink and sleep through the night. Vicious, fresh and darkly hilarious, American Housewife is a collection of stories for anyone who has ever wondered what really goes on behind the facades of the housewives of America...