Hazel Blackwood’s Housewife (2023) is a stark departure from traditional domestic fiction, utilizing the "dark romance" genre to examine the fragile boundary between protection and possession. Centering on Irena Nowak, a survivor of an abusive marriage who is thrust into an arranged union with Saint Dé Leon, a French mafia figure, the novel serves as a visceral study of trauma and the reclamation of self within high-stakes, violent environments. The Cycle of Forced Agency