Amanda Craig (https://www.amandacraig.com/) has written a cycle of seven interconnected novels which deal with contemporary British society, often in an expansive, dramatic and satirical manner. Her multi-stranded approach to writing fiction has invited comparison with the output of Anthony Trollope. She has contributed journalism to over 10 newspapers and periodicals over many years.
Craig’s 7th novel, The Lie of the Land, concerns a London professional couple, Quentin and Lottie Bredin, who can’t afford to divorce and so move to Devon to a rented house. Unfortunately, it has been the scene of a murder. The escapees soon meet Sally Verity, a happily married but unhappily childless Health Visitor and a sheep farmer’s wife who knows a different side to country life than the beauty of Devon. When Lottie’s innocent teenage son Xan gets a zero-hours contract at a local pie factory, he also sees something different from picture postcards. By the end of their year, their lives will be changed irrevocably. Part black comedy, part psychological suspense, this novel offers a rich, compassionate authorial voice. Dealing with the lethal interplay between money and marriage, it also offers a diagnosis of the state of modern life in Britain today. The novel was chosen for BBC Radio 4’s ‘Book at Bedtime’ in August 2017 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b090rfng)
The Lie of the Land makes an excellent choice of novel to wrap up 2017.
Check if this contemporary fiction is in stock at your local library by consulting the online catalogue at https://www.sllclibrary.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/OPAC/BSEARCH
432 pages in Little, Brown
First published 2017
ISBN 978-1408709290
Amanda Craig