'Perkins is an extraordinary writer' The Sunday TimesYou know how we say we devoured a story, and also that we were consumed by it? Eating and being eaten. It was like that with Claire, for me.
From humble beginnings, Therese has let herself grow used to a life of luxury after marrying into an empire-building family. But when rumours of corruption gather around her husband's latest development, the social opprobrium is shocking, the fallout swift, and Therese begins to look at her privileged and insular world with new eyes.
In the flat below Therese, something else is brewing. Her neighbour Claire believes she's discovered the secret to living with freedom and authenticity, freeing herself from the mundanity of domesticity. Therese finds herself enchanted by the lure of the permissive zone Claire creates in her apartment - a place of ecstatic release.
All too quickly, Therese is forced to confront herself and her choices - just how did she become this person? And what exactly should she do about it?
Emily Perkins, a New Zealand writer, has composed a fun and engrossing page-turner about a modern middle-class woman from humble beginnings. As a seemingly benign and successful owner of a lifestyle store, Therese – the protagonist - gets caught up in a scandal that is none of her doing. It explores marriage burdened with family entanglements from the point-of-view of a younger restrained wife to an older established business man.
Downstairs from Therese’s luxury apartment, her eccentric neighbour Claire provides the space for questioning and testing what is important. Therese begins to veer towards breaking free in her own way when she is taken for granted over and over again. The book explores compromise, privilege, authenticity, freedom and desires. The writing is sharp and enjoyable and zings with observational awareness and irony, especially when Therese reflects on or interacts with her spoilt step-children.
What a fun read!
