The Stranger in My House, by Judith Barrow: my review

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THE STRANGER IN MY HOUSE is the third of Judith Barrow‘s more contemporary domestic noir dramas (following THE MEMORY and SISTERS) and I was lucky enough to have an advance copy, so although it isn’t officially published until tomorrow, I’m going ahead to review it anyway.

I did try reading it in small segments, to give it full thoughtful attention, but gave up and after the first two attempts. Not that my attention was lacking, mind you, but I stayed up half the night to finish it, because it’s a book that commands you to turn the page and keep going. That’s my way of trying to avoid the word Unputdownable.

It’s a story about coercive control, in a time before it was recognised as a criminal offence. Or should it be termed corrosional control in this case? The twist here is that just for once, it’s the woman doing it to a man, not the other way round. Lynne, the villain of the piece, obviously a damaged woman in her own right, is a mistress of spotting weaknesses that she can manipulate to isolate and control her victim, before draining him like a vampire.

Graham, her hapless victim in this story, but not her first, has two fatal weaknesses. Firstly, he’s a decent man who values harmony, perhaps at any cost. Secondly he’s wallowing in grief for Anna, his beloved first wife, whom Lynne, as district nurse, had cared for. But as Graham’s young twins, Charlie and Chloe, know, Lynne’s caring wasn’t all that it seemed. When they find that the woman with the no-eyes smile is to be their new mummy, neither of them, and especially Charlie, are happy. But what can they do about it? Nothing, as Lynne takes over their world and sets about creating a rift between Graham, his colleagues and friends, his mother and even his own children, until the once united family is torn apart.

Lynne’s manipulative actions are convincingly portrayed, but so are the exquisitely painful hurts and frustrations of being a child in a world of adults who cannot understand or are unwilling to believe. Wicked stepmothers belong in fairytales, so of course they’re not real. Children are too prone to wild imagination. The only and inevitable response open to the child is dumb insolence and violent rage.

Separated, betrayed and angry, the twins have to carve their own hard ways to adulthood, but Chloe finds a kinder route, so perhaps it’s not surprising that while Charlie starts as the leader, strongest in resistance to Lynne when they are children, it’s Chloe who emerges, in the Winter of Discontent (very apposite) as the one determined to take charge, force a resolution, defeat the foe and reconcile the family at last.

There are, of course, great supporting characters – Lynne’s abominable son Saul and her sympathetic daughter Evie, Graham’s business partners, Phil and Margaret  (and son Mark), infuriatingly blind social workers, generous restaurant managers, elderly Jewish tailors, self-obsessed salesmen, and more. Sheer frustration keeps the story moving, even through deep snow, to a dramatic but ultimately satisfying conclusion. Definitely a must read.

THE STRANGER IN MY HOUSE
published 14th November, by Honno

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