Barbara Isn’t Dying

A bittersweet and hilarious novel about a marriage whose decades-old routine is suddenly upended. “A wise, carefully constructed novel about fragile hidden identities.” “Warm, poignant and acerbically funny... a sharp-eyed and unsentimental character study.”

“Hilarious, disturbing, and always irreverent.”

"Thrilling and moving in equal measure."

"In a novel that otherwise feels like a happy blend of Anne Tyler and Jonas Jonasson, there’s some perverse comfort in the gritty, human truth that it’s very hard for old dogs to learn new tricks."

"This eventful, life-affirming story is full of compassion, offering hope that despite the passing of time it is possible to change. An endearing and unique tale."

“Bronsky excels in relating heartache through a narrator who refuses to acknowledge it...insightful and subversive, funny and disturbing.”

A bittersweet and hilarious novel about a marriage whose decades-old routine is suddenly upended.

"Darkly funny."—The Times

Walter Schmidt has lived his whole life within the narrow, comfortable confines of traditional gender roles: he has made it to retirement without learning how to fry an egg or use a vacuum cleaner. After all, he could always count on his wife, Barbara. But, when one morning she can’t —or won’t! —get up from bed anymore, everything changes.

With biting humour and great warmth, Alina Bronsky writes about how Walter, nearing the end of his life, is suddenly forced to reinvent himself as a caregiver and househusband, and become the caring partner he never was in all his years with Barbara. Little by little, Walter’s rough facade begins to crumble, and with it his old certainties about his life and family.

• | Author: Alina Bronsky, Tim Mohr
• | Publisher: Europa Editions (UK) Ltd
• | Publication Date: Jul 17, 2025
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language: eng
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781787705814
• | ISBN-10: 1787705811