A "funny, affectionate and unpretentious" novel about what goes on
behind the closed doors of a marriage, from the author of The Best
Exotic Marigold Hotel (New Statesman).
Brinsley Street is your normal bustling city thoroughfare with
four-story houses abutting the sidewalk. But their rather unremarkable
exteriors hide surprisingly rural gardens--and family dramas.
In number twenty-three live the Coopers. Married for six years, Kate is
a stay-at-home mother of two young sons. Her husband travels frequently
for work, leaving Kate alone to care for the kids, the house, and
herself . . . if there's time. Their marriage hasn't quite turned out
the way she thought it would; Kate and her husband seem to live in
different worlds, moving further and further apart. It's no wonder that
she sometimes relishes his absence . . .
Next door are the Greens. Samuel has left the corporate world to work on
his novel. His very competent wife, a psychiatrist, is the sole
breadwinner. Their union works like a well-oiled machine, including
their relationship with their sixteen-year-old daughter, who struggles
to find ways to rebel against such perfectly understanding parents.
But in the midst of a blistering hot summer, the neighbors, who share a
wall, will find their lives entwined. Seeing and hearing Kate throughout
the day, Samuel becomes obsessed with her. Kate, lonely and feeling
unappreciated, finds herself unmoored, ultimately discovering that
danger doesn't come from outside their safe and comfortable world, but
from within . . .
