Clean Houses

A fiercely intelligent and darkly funny exploration of class, guilt, and the invisible labour that keeps our lives running smoothly . . .

By: María Agúndez

Narrated by: uncredited

Told with razor-sharp wit and an unfiltered, hypnotic voice, Clean Houses follows Sol. She is a progressive young woman obsessed with cleanliness who, upon becoming pregnant, hires two housekeepers to help her at home. Although having cleaners should, in theory, make Sol's life easier, it instead becomes a source of inner turmoil: she needs them, yet she wishes they didn't exist. Morally compelled to justify her privilege, she searches for a more 'respectable' and creative job - one just as precarious as those of her girls. However, in a twist of irony, she finds herself secretly enjoying the cleaning jobs she takes on the side - and excelling at them . . .

A brilliantly outrageous take on the contradictions of modern feminism, class awareness and the social choreography of domestic labour.

Critic reviews

Reflects on what we truly think (but almost never say) about domestic labour

Makes you laugh and feel uncomfortable in equal measure

Peers into what almost no one wants to see, portraying with perverse humour what nobody wants to do

Portrays, with corrosive humour and sharp social critique, the invisible work of those who clean and care in our homes

An uncomfortable novel - but in the best sense of the word. It forces the reader to look into a mirror they'd rather avoid

Suffused with sharpness and a dose of humour . . . Like a sociological study in a literary key; a lens that focuses on the contradictions of being a woman

A fresh, refreshingly honest voice that drew several wicked laughs from me.

A novel about . . . disillusionment with work, motherhood, and expectations; about the lack of recognition for domestic workers. Delightful.