Pastor's Wife

Millicent, a young Englishwoman, finds herself imprisoned in a sleepy German village as the wife of a domineering pastor. On the surface she has everything society promised would make a woman complete: a respectable home, social standing, the quiet dignity of provincial life. But beneath the steepled churches and orderly gardens, something is suffocating. Written with sharp wit and mounting desperation, von Arnim channels her own unhappy marriage into a feminist masterpiece disguised as a comedy of manners. As Millicent begins to assert herself against her husband's rigid control, the novel crackles with quiet rebellion and growing self-awareness. Just before the Great War would reshape Europe, von Arnim delivered a razor-sharp examination of what marriage meant when one person holds all the power. It's for anyone who has ever chafed against the role they were assigned.