Set in North London in the mid-1970s, the novel centers on a young couple and their baby, new owners of a picturesque Victorian cottage. The husband, a composer, his career light dimming, discovers otherworldly voices turning up in his studio recordings. Obsessed with producing a groundbreaking work, he turns a deaf ear to his depressed wife’s growing anxieties about the house and their baby’s odd behavior.
You can see it coming, right?
Tallis paces his story with pitch-perfect tension, well-nuanced characters and excellent use of the setting. Transplant Henry James to London during a period of economic and ecological anxieties, and this is what you’d get. A great read.