Safer Than Houses
On sale
4th October 2012
Price: £8.99
CWA Daggers: Gold, 2006
Sarah Fortune inherited her flat from one of her many lovers. Now a son has appeared claiming it is his, morally if not strictly legally, and he is using illegal means to persuade Sarah to give it up: abusive letters threatening her personal harm.
As it becomes more difficult to ignore these missives, Sarah comes across Henry, a timid, lonely man whose upstairs neighbour is using every trick in the racketeer landlord’s book to make him leave his home: litter in the shared hallway, continual noise, poison set out for his cat. It seems that if they swap accommodation for a while they may be able to deal with each other’s problems.
But these two strangers have unknown connections in common: a well-meaning widow, a struggling therapist, and a man who sets fire to other people’s property for a living . . .
As it becomes more difficult to ignore these missives, Sarah comes across Henry, a timid, lonely man whose upstairs neighbour is using every trick in the racketeer landlord’s book to make him leave his home: litter in the shared hallway, continual noise, poison set out for his cat. It seems that if they swap accommodation for a while they may be able to deal with each other’s problems.
But these two strangers have unknown connections in common: a well-meaning widow, a struggling therapist, and a man who sets fire to other people’s property for a living . . .
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Reviews
Fyfield's writing is always elegant and precise, her characters are finely drawn
Her knowledge of the workings of the human mind - or more correctly the soul - is second to none
Undiluted brilliance
Fyfield at her best is compelling, disturbing, but always elegant