The First House by Avni Doshi review – an intense portrait of marriage and freedom

In the follow-up to the Booker-shortlisted Burnt Sugar, a woman seeks liberation from her controlling relationships Avni Doshi’s second novel is narrated by an unnamed woman in the suburban US who is shocked to hear her husband announce that he is leaving her. She isn’t in love with him, exactly, but she sees their marriage as a structure or “container” for her existence. Formerly a novelist, her writing has stalled since having children. Her husband controls their finances, and won’t tell he...

By Daisy Hildyard