First published 1985
Evelyn Axon and her daughter Muriel are a reclusive mother-daughter duo, holed up in their crumbling home and cut off from the outside world. When young social worker Isabel Field is assigned to their case, she finds herself drawn into the Axons' bizarre and unsettling world. As Isabel grapples with her own personal problems, a horrible secret festers in the Axon household. When it's finally exposed, the consequences are both hilarious and terrifying.
Genres: fiction, domestic-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate
Tropes: dysfunctional-family, unreliable-narrator
Period: 1970s
224 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books Ltd
Content warnings: mental-illness