ONE FLESH: A Novel

‘Intelligent, emotionally layered, beautifully observed, and extraordinarily difficult to put down.' The International Review of Books (awarded a Badge of Excellence)

‘As moving as it is intricate, populated by deeply memorable characters.’ Reviews @ Independent Book Review.com

‘A multifaceted exploration of the tensions that can tear a family apart.’ Ambassador, LoveReading (Indie Books We Love)

From the author of Loss and Hannah comes a haunting work of psychological literary fiction: a portrait of a troubled marriage and its barely visible fractures that threaten to tear the family apart.

To the outside world, Clare and Jon excel at navigating the relentless routines and restrictions of family life. But beneath the daily pressures of raising a teenage daughter and an autistic son lie the secrets and unspoken grief that consume them both.

Then someone from Clare's past reappears with an unsettling request. What begins as an unwelcome intrusion soon threatens the fragile equilibrium of their home, forcing Clare to confront a past she believed was safely buried. With the arrival of Jon's mother, Joan, the tension tightens further. Cunning, watchful, and adept at exploiting weakness, Joan insinuates herself into the household, probing old wounds and exposing fault lines in her life that Clare can no longer ignore.

Slow-burning, intimate, and deeply unsettling, One Flesh explores the claustrophobia of domestic life, the damage families inflict in the name of love, and the lengths we will go to escape the cages we have built for ourselves.