First published 2026
Beatrice cannot leave her house. After a tragic incident destroyed her acting career, she retreats completely from the world outside. Her days shrink to encounters with an elderly Polish neighbor, a dull postman, her troubled therapist, and Piano Bitch who lives across the street. Her foul-mouthed parakeet Matisse provides her only real companionship. The overgrown garden taunts her from beyond the windows, a space she fears to enter. When Beatrice hires Finn, an Irish gardener, to restore the wild yard, something shifts. Their conversations through glass develop into genuine connection. Finn works the soil while Beatrice watches from inside, and slowly their relationship grows. But her restrictions remain powerful. The question becomes whether love can give Beatrice strength to face her fears and cross the threshold that has trapped her, or whether her limitations will destroy this fragile bond that promises to end her isolation.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller, contemporary-romance
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, introspective, melancholic, tender, thought-provoking
Tropes: forced-proximity, healing-through-connection, second-chance-at-life, slow-burn-romance
Setting: Beatrice's house, garden
Hardcover
Content warnings: mental-illness