The Party Wall

How well do you know your neighbours? Whatever I can do for Freya, I'll gladly and honourably do, he told himself, grateful for the calm intentness of his spirit. She schooled him. She made him a better person. There was an overarching sense of forgiveness. Not that there was anything Mark should be forgiven for. Mark lives next door to Freya. When her husband dies, he determines to be her saviour come what may. Whether that means walking the dog, minding the house or taking her out on day trips... However, her neighbours the other side keep getting in the way, as do her two lumpen brothers-in-law. But Mark has another life, one he hasn't told Freya about, one that increasingly impinges on his desire to make Freya his own. As he lies in his bed at night, listening to her movements the other side of the wall, the gentle sighing and creaking of bed springs, he plots his movements towards an idyllic future. A future that doesn't feature the ex-girlfriend who still lives in his other house, or his dead wife. As Mark ingratiates himself, Freya – lost in a sea of grief – only slowly begins to realise that Mark's motives may not be as compassionate as they seem. Praise for Stevie Davies' writing'...charged with sensitivity... Like Charlotte Bronte in Shirley, Davies is funny and perceptive' Helen Dunmore, Guardian'[Davies] has a special talent for cutting through the apparently ordinary and finding what is remarkable underneath and, in doing so, reveals deep truths about the extremes of human nature.' Financial Times