His Current Woman

Pawel Kohoutek, veterinarian and womanizer, looks out the window one morning to see his mistress approaching his house. That's bad. She is hauling her suitcase (containing her books) and her backpack (containing everything else she owns). That's worse. So Kohoutek does the only thing he can: He hides his current woman in the attic of the family slaughterhouse. Farce ensues as Kohoutek attempts to hide the woman from his eccentric family, their lodgers, and various offbeat visitors.
A best-seller in Jerzy Pilch's native Poland, "His Current Woman" is an enjoyable literary send-up of manners and what often passes for love.


Dr. Pawel Kohoutek, veterinarian and womanizer, looks out the window one morning to see his mistress approaching his house. Farce ensues as Kohoutek attempts to hide the woman from his eccentric family, the family's lodgers, and various offbeat visitors. The woman, expecting love and children and a future, does not make things easy. As he frantically runs around trying to keep her a secret, Kohoutek's memories -- mostly involuntary and (in true postmodern fashion) of questionable accuracy -- reveal in hilarious detail the life and crises of a hapless libertine and the forces that created him.