In this book, the author cleverly uses a split narrative. The majority of the book is spent in various flats on a suburban street in London, giving detailed descriptions of tenants, their hopes, aspirations and fears. In the beginning we are aware of a terrible tragedy and left to wonder what that might be. The other narrative is told in the first person by a young woman who finds herself pregnant, and living there when the tragic event occurs, with the focus shifting between past and present. None of the characters are ever named. Only a physical detail as well as the number of their apartment is used to identify them. I found the novel needed a lot of concentration-and the ending left me not really knowing the answer-but the writing left me feeling I knew the neighbours, and wanting to continue reading. Thanks Jayra for the choice-it’s so good to have exposure to authors I haven’t read before.
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