First published 2010
William runs a wine shop and faces a familiar parental dilemma. His twenty-four-year-old son Eddie shows no signs of moving out, despite William's gentle but persistent encouragement. Their home sits in Corduroy Mansions, a worn but dignified apartment building in London's Pimlico district. The building houses an eccentric mix of residents, including Marcia, a caterer who has romantic designs on William, and the despised politician Oedipus Snark, whose own mother Berthea reluctantly writes his biography while his girlfriend Barbara dreams of marriage. The neighborhood also includes a vitamin enthusiast, a psychoanalyst, and an art student with a mysterious boyfriend. Perhaps most memorable is Freddie de la Hay, a Pimlico terrier who insists on buckling his seatbelt and maintains a strictly vegetarian diet. As these neighbors navigate their interconnected lives, their small dramas and daily interactions reveal the complex web of modern urban community. The story explores how people create family and connection in unexpected ways.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, urban, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Corduroy Mansions, Pimlico, London
Period: 21st-century
353 pages · Hardcover · Pantheon Books