First published 2003
Dorothy has just bought a bungalow in a new housing development outside an English village. The retired music teacher keeps to herself, carrying the weight of a troubled childhood and messy divorce. Solomon works nights as a security guard in the same development. He is black, an immigrant who entered England illegally after escaping war in Africa. Both live as solitary figures on the margins of a society that has little place for them. When Dorothy and Solomon tentatively reach toward each other, their paths cross in a moment of genuine human contact. Neither realizes this connection will be their last. The story moves backward to reveal how each arrived at this point. Solomon fled the horrors of war as a former soldier, arriving in England with nothing but diminishing strength and no understanding of his new country. Dorothy escaped the aftermath of a desperate obsession that consumed her life. Both have retreated inward, shutting themselves off from a world that has transformed beyond recognition and left them displaced from home, heart, and identity.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family, solitary-figures
Setting: Africa, England, English Village
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
288 pages · Hardcover · Knopf
Content warnings: war