A Domestic

by Peter Jukes

A family cleaner sees and hears everything, from the pill packet that signals that her employers are no longer trying for another child, to that unfamiliar earring in the marital bed that signals something altogether more worrying. In this five-part drama, two successful people, prosperous and happily married, pay little attention to their Polish domestic. Perhaps they should....

The Andersons seem to have a perfect marriage. Both lawyers, they have a lot in common, and laugh riotously at the antics their warring clients get up to. As well as being good friends, they are caring parents. Then one morning their cleaner, Mariola finds an earring in the marital bed. She looks closer. It belongs to Elena, the nanny.

Peter Jukes' domestic thriller series stars Lydia Leonard, Neil Stuke and Clare Lawrence-Moody. Directed by Peter Kavanagh.

258 pages

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an interesting story of how a maid without really meaning to mixes and screws up a marriage. She based her actions on the paranoia of the foreigner in a land and culture she doesn't quite understand to interpret motives to an employer she understood even less. Or did she/was she herself the victim? Did the motives and meanings she attributed to her employer have any base in reality at all?

The author races for the end, which was a cop-out and left me wondering about the details. What were red herrings, what were just loose ends, or was it all just plain bad writing? Still at least it got me thinking.

It seems to me that many people can plot a story and develop characters but when it comes to the ending, they don't know what to do. So they employ some hackneyed psychological excuse or 'ha, it was the delivery man that did it (remember the delivery man, chapter four?)' and the unsatisfactory feeling lingers, even though the rest of the book was quite enjoyable.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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