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Esther Freud
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The Sea House: A Novel Paperback – July 13, 2021

by Esther Freud (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 231 ratings
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“Unexpected and satisfying.” — New York Newsday

The architect Klaus Lehmann loves his wife, Elsa, with a passion that continues throughout their married life despite long periods of separation. Almost half a century after Lehmann’s death in the village of Steerborough, a young woman, Lily, arrives to research his life and work. Pouring over Klaus’s letters to Elsa, Lily pieces together the story of their lives together and apart. And alone in her rented cottage by the sea, she begins to sense an absence in her own life that may not be filled by simply going home.

The Sea House is the story of the village of Steerborough and the marshes and the sea beyond. It is the story of one generation living in the footprints of another; of a landscape shaped by lives, and lives shaped by landscape. With characteristic skill and a new depth and range, Esther Freud explores the twisting paths that people take—and the places where those paths meet.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ecco
  4. Publication date
    July 13, 2021
  5. Dimensions
    5.31 x 0.65 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0060565500
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0060565503
  8. See all details
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From the Publisher

Esther Freud Comp Table
I Couldn’t Love You More Hideous Kinky Love Falls Summer At Gaglow The Sea House
I Couldn’t Love You More Hideous Kinky Love Falls Summer At Gaglow The Sea House
Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
735
3.8 out of 5 stars
53
3.6 out of 5 stars
101
3.3 out of 5 stars
35
4.0 out of 5 stars
231
Price $8.98 $14.06 $16.15 $11.53 $5.95

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Esther Freud is the great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and the daughter of the painter Lucian Freud. She trained as an actress before writing her first novel. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages. She lives in London.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco; Reprint edition (July 13, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060565500
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060565503
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.65 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 231 ratings

About the author

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Esther Freud

Esther Freud

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Esther Freud trained as an actress before writing her first novel, Hideous Kinky, which was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys prize and made into a film starring Kate Winslet. After publishing her second novel, Peerless Flats, she was chosen as one of Granta’s Best Young British novelists. Her other books include The Sea House, Lucky Break, and Mr Mac and Me, which won Best Novel in the East Anglian Book Awards.

She contributes regularly to newspapers and magazines, and is a teacher of creative writing at The Faber Academy as well as with her own local group. Her first full length play Stitchers was produced at The Jermyn St Theatre in 2018.

I Couldn’t Love You More is her ninth novel.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
231 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

D. P. Birkett
5.0 out of 5 stars Normal for Suffolk
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2006
Verified Purchase
It may unfair to Esther Freud to begin a review by pointing out that she is the great-granddaughter of you-know-who, but it would be unfair to the reader not to mention it, because one of the themes is the German-Jewish refugee experience in England and one of her characters is a psychoanalyst. The author adds to the relevance of her personal background by providing a list of acknowledgements at the end that almost suggests we have been reading a roman a clef.

There are two main settings, seaside communities on opposite shores of the North Sea. One is a meticulously described East Anglian village, Steerborough, the other a German island (which might actually be in the Baltic).

The two main plots are set 50 years apart in time. One is the story, set in the fifties, of a refugee architect, Klaus, and his wife, Elsa, the other is the story of Lily,a student of architectural history, who is studying the life and work of Klaus and worrying about her relationship with her London architect lover, Nick.

Several other plots are interlinked. Lily gets involved with Grae who is desperately trying to care for two young daughters, Emm and Arry, reminiscent of the wonderful ones in "Hideous Kinky," and who may or may not be the guilty party in his violent relationship with their mother. Elsa has an affair with the deaf artist Max, who is painting a panorama of Steerborough.

It sounds complicated, and there are many subtleties and nuances that will repay a second reading, but the characters are so well demarcated, their dialog is so realistic, and their actions flow so naturally from their personalities, that it is never hard to follow for pure entertainment.
12 people found this helpful
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Karen J. Dahood
4.0 out of 5 stars I Gave It To My Daughter
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2010
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THE SEA HOUSE still shows on my "wish list," but I bought it at some point and now I want to comment: I am prejudiced toward English settings, so that attracted me in the first place and I was not too disappointed. Coastal villages in the UK now are not like they often appear in books. That aside, I found the young researcher's relationship with the place and her subject -- which ostensibly was marriage and the past, but really was marriage and the future -- fascinating. How often do we have the opportunity to find influence on our lives and romantic problems in the lives of famous people? The story also brings to mind the importance of perspective. While Lily is digging deeper in to the couple's feelings for one another 50 years before, she is deliberating about her love life and career goals in London. Leaving London for the East Anglian coast, and from present into past, is comparable in effect to getting a fellowship for a year-long writer's retreat. You change as you meet new "characters," and perceive other people's lives as imperfect as your own. You look at roads not traveled. You discover life is a minefield of hard choices, and a burial ground for regrets. I passed my copy of THE SEA HOUSE on to my daughter who was just coming out of a love affair. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to live the contemplative life, even for the short time it takes to read a book. Possession
14 people found this helpful
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Inglish
3.0 out of 5 stars If you want to read Esther Freud, don't start here
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2020
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I chose this book because I have read quite a few books by Esther Freud and always enjoyed them. This is a very competent story, but not this writer's best by any means. The heroine's love interests (both of them) are very formulaic and the ending is very pat and, at the same time, underwhelming.
One person found this helpful
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Barbara R. Guada
5.0 out of 5 stars incredible
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2011
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each of her books is smashing and wonderful... just love her work. this one is as in detail and filled with incredibl journey which is easy to read and as all her other books one who likes her dosent want to put it down.
2 people found this helpful
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M
4.0 out of 5 stars Unlikable, unrealistic main character
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2014
I agree with the other reviewer who said the characters fell flat. One of the main characters, Lily, doesn't have any idea what she wants in love, work, or seemingly any other area of life. It's fine to spend your 20s finding yourself, in fact that's what young adulthood is for, but about halfway through the book when Lily woke up at the apartment she shared with her boyfriend to find a woman she'd never met in the apartment and hid in the bedroom rather than confront her, I lost all interest in the book. Timidity or shyness can be very endearing but this main character is more like pathetic and wishy-washy.
4 people found this helpful
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Bente Busck
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfull novel
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2014
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It is a very sencitive and hopefull novel. And vith a surprising plot. I also found the decriptions of the nature buetiful.
3 people found this helpful
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Jane Baker
4.0 out of 5 stars Sort of dreamy....
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2011
Such luxurious prose, almost langourous, redolent of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway and Ishiguro's Remains of the Day. I drifted through this story with the very strange Max and the ambiguous Lily, the almost absent, but ever-present Nick. Romantic, strange,almost dream-like, the reader only wakes up when the novel is finished. Beautiful. Different.
2 people found this helpful
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L. Osterman
2.0 out of 5 stars Slow and Dull
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2004
This novel starts out very slow and uninteresting and only barely picks up. It paints vivid pictures of the coastal town and even of the characters in a physical way. But the main part of the story, the relationships, falls flat and remains ambiguous. With the interesting lives led by all the characters, in both timelines, so much more could have been developed. The actions of Lily, Max, and Elsa all seem random and without any motivation. It did offer interesting information about Germany and it's peoples lives before and during WWII.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Penny
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful story.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
I have just finished reading The Sea House and was thoroughly entranced by it. We visit Suffolk and Steerborough and Eastonknoll frequently - if my recognition of the countryside and surrounding landmarks are correct - we are here just now. A beautiful story.
2 people found this helpful
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marie
3.0 out of 5 stars A bit disappointing
Reviewed in France on March 31, 2016
Verified Purchase
I wanted to read more by Esther Freud as I'd loved her debut autobiographic novel "Hideous kinky", particularly the ambience and poetic style, and I was not disappointed in this novel: once again, Freud weaves her magic through her sensuous, graceful depiction of landscape, until in this present novel the landscape becomes the protagonist. I was hungry for this type of escapism and so I enjoyed this novel a great deal!
However, that is not to say that the book doesn't have its faults. The stories (one in the present time, on after WWII) are secondary to the place, and characterization is sometimes weak: I could not make out at all the characters of Elsa and Max, I could not understand why they acted as they did... There is very (too) little insight in the characters' minds so that one is left a little bit frustrated at the end.
If you like strong characters and storylines, this isn't for you. This is a gentle, subtle novel. I usually go in for strong drama but I was definitely won over by Freud's beautiful writing.
One person found this helpful
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M
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2015
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a good read. nothing heavy but some pause for thought
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pat durrell
3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best read I have had
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2015
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Too much time hopping. Seemed to take a long time getting anywhere. Not the best read I have had. Tempted to abandon it on more than one occasion but glad I didn't as it all fell into place - eventually.
2 people found this helpful
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Dingle
5.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing summer holiday read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2015
Verified Purchase
I loved the way that she intermingled the two timescales. The characters were believable and you could empathise with them all. I loved picturing the village where the action took place - having known it well in the past.
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