The Housekeepers

by Susan Barrett

Trapped in every layer of wallpaper are the lives lived in this old house. The Housekeepers looks back at the lives of two women who, at a distance of sixty years and unknown to each other, find themselves, together, apart, shut up in the same house.
In 1955, nineteen-year-old, unhappily married Celia is one of the in-between generation, the inheritors of drab austerity in a world forever changed by war. Abi, who takes on the neglected Georgian house as a restoration project in 2015, is herself a beneficiary of the coming half-century of peace, prosperity and the Welfare State.
House prices are rising, she has choices, she loves her husband, life is good. And yet, convinced by a chaotic and unhappy childhood that things can only get worse, she worries over climate change, terrorist attack, mass migration, over-population, pollution, reality TV.
While the stories of the two women are told in counterpoint, at times converging, sometimes opposing, the third character in the mix is the old house itself. Like the still point in whirling time, over it’s two hundred year span it’s been witness to enormous flux and change, so that its rooms seem to echo with the voices of residents long passed as well as those to come.
Like our own insecure lease on this unpredictable planet, for Abi ‘home’ can be an unsettling, even a frightening place. To Celia it is the claustrophobic burrow where she hid her head that, as it appears, she now may never leave.
The Housekeepers is a tale of gothic horror, jokes, jeopardy and misdirection, as well as hope.
The dark spell that seems to have been cast over babies born and unborn here, will be lifted by a generous the gift of one generation of women to the next.

Genres: Fiction

302 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 10, 2020

About the author

Born in London, my working life began in the film and video department of a big construction company. From there moving into television production, scriptwriting, directing and producing. Then I went and swapped this interesting and lucrative career for maternity. The next few years were spent bringing up two children and, in between the school drop off and pick up, I had the opportunity to do what I always wanted to do, which was write.

Reviews

[Michele Thyne]

What an extraordinary writer Susan Barrett is! I have not read such a lyrical writer since Lawrence Durrell, when I was very young. An example: "Just like any other dust mote trapped in the shafts of the low autumn sun, you revolve round and around within the thickets of too familiar furniture". I found this to be a beautiful rendered essence of 'lost'.

This historical novel set in 1955, still really post war London, and the prosperous London of 2015 follows two young women, their stories told counterpoint in time with both living or having lived in the same old Georgian house in Islington. Both must ultimately deal with the same question: motherhood. There is help from husbands, friends, neighbors, ex-lovers, characters so finally drawn you feel you know them well, and the house itself, very much a character in this story full to the brim as it is with its very long past. There is delicious humor and perhaps even the odd ghost amid the plot twists and turns! Savor this book, it is just wonderful.

[Richard Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A witty and devilishly well-observed oversight of the lives of two women living in the same house at different times. As the layers are peeled away we see exposed the raw structures that they have built their lives on and the somewhat shaky foundations that underpin their choices and decisions. Constantly amusing and original, this book is written with skill and artifice, but there is real pain amidst the chuckles. Highly recommended.

[Grace Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant, lively and full of detail. I loved this story of a woman’s (ultimately toxic) relationship with her Georgian house - and the building’s own emotional baggage. Considerable research and a real feel for slang and turns of phrase means that the sections set in 1952 feel every bit as immediate as those that take place in 2015. My favourite characters have to be the builders who are always, quite literally, ‘avin a larf’.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise with some well-written sections about a house in Islington and two sets of residents. Well-observed social commentary and exploration of themes affecting women in the 10950s and early twentieth century. Its best sections were very good but its pace was uneven and my attention wandered at times. Would read more from the author as there was enough to keep me reading.

[Joann Fithian-Vollmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barrett wrote a puzzle of a book. This VETTY British novel is not for everyone. It's difficult to follow, and the characters are all so unlikable, that I was relieved to be done with them.

[Camille Marsella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a while to get into the story but then fell for the desperate relationship between Mr and Mrs William Bone and their home and its previous housekeepers.

[Robin Gilchrist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with generosity and warmth, the unpredictable plot is edgy and disturbing in places but there is also plenty of light amongst the shadows. Strong and intelligent, there is wit and surprises in the text that will engage the reader throughout the book.