Reviewed by Ian Lipke
Richard Wellington is a doctor well loved by a wide selection of television and radio listeners. If he happens to cause the female heart to beat a little faster and should he step across boundaries and spend a little too much time in a bedroom that is not his own, well he’s a hardworking medico and could be forgiven – except that somebody has murdered him. When the rumour mill gets going, it becomes clear that any number of explanations find voice.
What if the daughter of one of the housewives has questions to answer? She seems to have taken an oath of silence where this murder is concerned. And what about prime suspect Martin Finch who had been unkind enough to threaten Dr Richard? Martin’s wife had died following breast augmentation surgery that had gone wrong. Although Finch’s response to his wife’s fate was to create a great fuss including legal action, no action to help the unfortunate man was ever taken. The community did little more than shun him.
This novel is one of extremes. The story has little to commend it, and I propose not to consider it except incidentally. A far richer field exists in the characters, who seem not to have become acquainted with normalcy. Perhaps that is too sweeping a statement as the minor characters, Livy’s husband for example, act as any normal person might.
The character most developed is Livy, neurotic, gossipy, sensitive-to-a-fault Livy. She simply must know what her daughter, Gracie, is up to. Knowing that Gracie does not welcome her attention, she interferes in the name of motherhood. While she is allowing her pathological demand to interfere in her daughter’s life, her husband goes to bed to sleep or carries on a balanced life.
Meredith is another character who has some strange habits. Her relationship with Livy is more than a little tenuous. Her story could have developed in any direction but, once again, her character, personality, and her unusual means of behaviour, is what drives readers to her.
Gracie’s behaviour would be familiar to many readers. She spends much time in bed, endlessly scrolling through the TV channels or watching her favourite shows. This behaviour is a clear sign (to her mother at least) that the girl is overwrought or overwhelmed. She retreats into those environments where she feels safe. Her mother knows these habits but plagues her daughter with questions anyway. It’s more of the usual, “I’m here, you know, if you want to talk about it.”
The fact that few characters exist in the story but occupy such a vast geographical space might help to explain why their foibles are amplified. Livy is open to criticism because of her need of a part in her daughter’s life. This urgent need approaches an illness level largely because of her overexposure. Gracie suffers as the victim of her mother’s oversensitivity but to a lesser extent.
I found this book a very interesting exposé of characters but light on story line. Unusual, I think.
The Neighbours
(2025)
by Emma Babbington
Harper Collins
ISBN:978-0-00-477035-8
$32.99;369pp