A Spy in the House of Love (novel)

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A Spy in the House of Love is a 1954 novel by Anais Nin.

The book is a fascinating journey into the mind of Sabina, who is assumed by many to be a fictionalized version of author Anais Nin herself. The book portrays an adulterous woman working with a therapist to try to come to terms with her dishonest ways. Anais Nin wrote the book at a time that she was having many affairs.

The genre is best described as erotic fiction. The story is a character study of a woman in torment.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The leading character of the novel, Sabina, is a beautiful lying wife who desires to seduce every attractive man she can. She regards herself as an international spy in the house of love. All the while she is living a double life with staid Alan, her unsuspecting husband. She tells Alan that she's an actress in a play and she must leave for weeks at a time. She hides herself under makeup and clothing to disguise her flaws as she goes in search of someone who can save her from herself. At the same time, she's telling her story to a "lie detector", whom she dials at random when she attempted to call a friend. The lie detector is something like a detective and something like a professional psychologist, listening to others and separating truth from lies. He traces her call and continues to follow Sabina, revealing in the end the folly of her ways.

Fans of the book speak of Sabina as not only special, but as endowed with a touching need. Initially, Nin meant Sabina to be based on her friend June Miller, and wrote House of Incest with Sabina standing in for June. However, as Nin seems to have held June as a role model and deliberately imitated her, the character borrowed traits from both women. Nin said that of all her novels, this was the one she worked on most diligently. Many readers and critics speak of the lie detector as one of her best characters.

[edit] Cultural references

The phrase was used as a lyric in The Doors' song "The Spy" (on the album Morrison Hotel).
"A Spy in the House of Love" is also the title of a song by the band Was (Not Was).
The band Animal Logic also released a single entitled "There's A Spy (in the House of Love)."
The British band The House of Love is named after the novel.
The American band The dB's also recorded a song titled "A Spy in the House of Love".