#Review: The Stranger in My House by Judith Barrow @honno #newrelease #domesticthriller #familydrama #TheStrangerInMyHouse

Two reviews today, both a tad shorter than my usual – I’m desperate to catch up a little before my Christmas break! And it’s a real pleasure to share my first, a review of The Stranger in My House, the latest book from Judith Barrow. Published in paperback by Honno Welsh Women’s Press on 14th November, it’s now (after a few unfortunate glitches with the release date…) also available for kindle (and even better, just 99p): the paperback is also available via Hive, or you can also buy it via Honno’s affiliate link on Bookshop.org. The ecopy I read was my own, purchased and downloaded to my kindle via Amazon.

If you enjoy historical fiction, you might well have come across Judith’s writing through her very popular Howarth trilogy (A Pattern of Shadows, Changing Patterns and Living in the Shadows). I’m rather ashamed to say I didn’t – but, having met her on a visit to the Narberth Book Fair, read instead the series prequel, A Hundred Tiny Threads and really loved it (you’ll find my review here). Or maybe you read The Heart Stone? That was rather special too – you’ll find my review here. But there are two of Judith’s books that will always have a place in my heart. The first was The Memory, so stunning that I called it “one of the most powerful books I’ve read”, and its impact still lingers – it most definitely deserved its shortlisting as 2021 Wales Book of the Year (you’ll find my review here) And then there was Sisters – the whole book was so perfectly structured and beautifully written, both gritty and tender – and I couldn’t recommend it more highly (you’ll find my review here). So my expectations for her latest were – perhaps understandably – particularly high, but I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed…

After the death of their mum, twins Chloe and Charlie are shocked when their dad introduces Lynne as their ‘new mummy’. Lynne, a district nurse, is trusted in the community, but the twins can see her kind smile doesn’t meet her eyes. In the months that follow they suffer the torment Lynne brings to their house as she stops at nothing in her need to be in control.

 

Betrayed, separated and alone, the twins struggle to build new lives as adults, but will they find happiness or repeat past mistakes? Will they discover Lynne’s secret plans for their father? Will they find each other in time?

 

The Stranger in My House is a gripping ‘cuckoo in the nest’ domestic thriller, exploring how coercive control can tear a family apart. Set in Yorkshire and Cardiff, from the 60s to the winter of discontent, The Stranger in My House dramatises both the cruelty and the love families hide behind closed doors.

One of the author’s many strengths is in capturing the clear and authentic voice of a confused child – Mandy’s voice, in the author’s last book, still haunts me, torn between her own grief, her sense of right and wrong, and her love for her family. And once more, in her latest book she wonderfully portrays the suffering of eight-year-old twins Chloe and Charlie – already grieving the loss of their mother, their lives torn apart by their father’s marriage to her former nurse, an evil manipulator of the highest order.

The twins have a strong bond, so well established by the author: Charlie’s resistance to their new life, and the cruel bullying of his new step brother, see him moved into care – a misnomer if ever there was one – through a succession of homes each worse than the other; in time, Chloe too is torn from her family, waiting in vain for visits from her father, her unsettled experience of foster care adversely affecting her future relationships. And their new “mother” Lynne has an agenda all of her own – she also brings about the decline of their father Graham, never really the villain of the piece, believing he was doing the best for his family. In the second part, we rejoin the story as the twins reach adulthood, making their own ways in life, always hoping to be reunited – and there’s a distinct change of gear as we discover the hands everyone has been dealt, and the book develops the pace of a thriller as it moves towards the uplifting and wholly satisfying conclusion.

The characterisation throughout is absolutely exceptional – those who suffer, those who cause it, and the many supporting characters who play their parts in the story, especially those who provide the much-needed (and often doubted) proof that there can be good people. The sixties setting for the earlier part of the story, a different world from today, is so authentically drawn – and young Chloe’s letters to Sadie Shaw, her mother’s favourite, were a particularly poignant postscript to her chapters. There are certainly no punches pulled in the depiction of Lynne’s controlling behaviour, son Saul’s cruelty, or the many failings of the care system – often particularly harrowing and disturbing, I found I sometimes just had to put the book down to be able to handle its emotional impact. And that impact was immense – but despite the need for an occasional breather, I was enthralled by the whole story, its individuals so very real, its narrative so compelling.

This really is wonderful writing, storytelling in a class of its own, and I couldn’t recommend the book more highly – a superb read, and totally unforgettable.

About the author

Judith Barrow is a writer of domestic thrillers, domestic noir, and historical family sagas. Her books include Sisters, published in 2023, and The Memory, which was shortlisted in 2021 for the Wales Book of the Year (the Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award).

Originally from Saddleworth, a group of villages on the Pennines, she has lived in Pembrokeshire, Wales, for over forty years.

She has an MA in creative writing, a BA (Hons) in Literature, and Diploma in Drama. She is a creative writing tutor and holds workshops on all genres. She attends many festivals and book events, and frequently gives talks on creative writing.

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