Fran Cooper

Step into Paris as you have never seen it before. . . SHORTLISTED FOR THE HAYES & JARVIS FICTION WITH A SENSE OF PLACE, 2018 EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARD 'An engaging debut that throws light on a hidden side of Paris' Woman and Home 'A sensitive, necessary, brave book.' Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us What building doesn't have secrets? How much does anyone know of what goes on behind their neighbour's doors? On a hot June day, grief-stricken Edward arrives in Paris hoping that a stay in a friend's empty apartment will help him mend. But this is not the Paris he knows: there are no landmarks or grand boulevards, and the apartment he was promised is little more than an attic room. In the apartments below him, his new neighbours fill their flats with secrets. A young mother is on the brink, a bookshop owner buries her past, and a banker takes up a dark and malicious new calling. Before he knows it, Edward will find himself entangled in their web, and as the summer heat intensifies so do tensions within and without the building, leading to a city-wide wave of violence, and a reckoning within the walls of number 37. With a sultry heat to rival A Year in Provence and all the sharp perception of Leila Slimani's Lullaby, These Dividing Walls is a beautifully written and eye-opening novel about the Paris we don't see. 'It'll open your heart and mind. It certainly did mine' The Pool 'An unforgettable and unexpected portrait of Paris' Hannah Rothschild *********** What readers have said about These Dividing Walls: 'Totally engrossing - it was a magical pleasure to lose myself in these people's world each night' 'The quality of the writing in These Dividing Walls is never short of exquisite' 'This is an outstanding debut novel from an author to watch' 'A delightful glimpse into the lives of a group of people one hot and fearful summer'

Shortlisted for the 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award

These Dividing Walls

Die Leute von

'Superbly written and utterly gripping' Daily Mail After an acclaimed career in ceramics, Jay herself has cracked. Recovering from a breakdown, she and her husband Simon move to the desolate edges of the north of England, where they find and fall in love with the Two Houses: a crumbling property whose central rooms were supposedly so haunted that a previous owner had them cut out from the building entirely. But on uprooting their city life and moving to the sheltered grey village of Hestle, Jay and Simon discover it's not only the Two Houses that seems to be haunted by an obscure past. It becomes increasingly clear that the villagers don't want them there at all - and when building work to make the two houses whole again starts, a discovery is made that will unearth decades-old secrets . . . But who in this village has been hiding them? 'Atmospheric with a wonderful cast of characters that prove the depth of Cooper's empathy and talent. Eerie, evocative and captivating . . . A total triumph.' Tor Udall, author of A Thousand Paper Birds ************ Praise for These Dividing Walls: 'Beautifully written' Prima 'Unforgettable' Hannah Rothschild 'Confident and brilliant' Lisa O'Donnell 'Fine writing . . . Cooper's expertly realised characters, both sympathetic and not, have stories interwoven with aplomb' Daily Mail

a gripping novel of buried secrets and those who hide them

The Two Houses

Jedes Haus hat seine Geheimnisse Seit über hundert Jahren steht Nummer 37 mit der türkisfarbenen Eingangstür an einer abgelegenen Pariser Straßenecke. Hinter ihren Mauern leben völlig normale Menschen. Jeder mit seinen ganz eigenen Träumen und Ängsten, Wünschen und Affären. Auf dem Flur grüßt man sich und geht seiner Wege. Doch dann entbrennt ein Streit über die Frage, wer in die leer stehende Wohnung im dritten Stock einziehen soll. Und plötzlich prallen die Leben der Bewohner mit voller Wucht aufeinander ...

Fran Cooper

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