Eileen is writer Otessa Moshfegh's successful debut novel. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award.
Eileen follows an unhappy and disturbed 24-year-old woman who works as a secretary at a juvenile prison during the 1960s. The main story takes place during the most bitter winter Massachusetts has ever seen. Eileen lives with her father, an alcoholic former cop who abuses and controls her. When a new employee begins work at Eileen's job at the juvenile prison, their friendship catalyzes a series of escalating events in Eileen's life. The novel gathers speed and quickly becomes a tale of repression and crime.
On the one hand, Eileen is a novel about a woman stuck in a dead-end job in a town she doesn't like. However, it is also a book about a woman struggling to attain her freedom outside of marriage. Eileen is not only the story of a confused and disenchanted woman, it is also the story of all headstrong women of her era who were trying to forge an independent path for themselves.
