by Susan Hill
First published 1984
A young woman stands at her window watching strangers pass below, wondering if anyone notices her solitary existence. She represents one of several characters in Hill's collection who grapple with profound loneliness and unexpected loss. An elderly man confronts memories of his deceased wife while sorting through her belongings. A mother struggles with her adult son's mental illness and her own feelings of helplessness. A couple faces the dissolution of their marriage after years of unspoken resentments. Hill moves between urban apartments and rural cottages, between the minds of the isolated and the grieving. Each story reveals how ordinary people navigate extraordinary emotional terrain. The collection examines how loss reshapes identity and how solitude can become both refuge and prison. These characters search for connection while protecting themselves from further pain.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, found-family, slice-of-life
186 pages · Hardcover · HAMISH HAMILTON LTD
Content warnings: mental-illness