Or the memories of sexual abuse under her father’s watch that surface and resurface, even in her new life. There is the condom that Lauren never saw come off after a sexual encounter and recurrently worries is stuck inside her. The various themes of her novel – class, gender, family, race – appear disparate at first, but are woven around a series of symbols which knit them together. Moments like this have a nightmarish quality they are done very well and echo the macabre quality of Sealed, Booth’s book before this.īut despite Lauren’s desire to eschew mess, Booth insists that life’s unpleasantness cannot be kept under wraps. Lauren is the one constantly trying to keep up the façade of perfection, down to sheering off the top layer of her skin with glycolic acid in a masochistic attempt at beautification. He comes to provide palliative care for József, a client with multiple sclerosis who lives in an exquisite, art-filled house in an expensive area of London.īoth Lauren and Callum have things that they wish to push out of arm’s reach – and when they meet, in the house that Callum tends and Lauren covets, their attempts to cover up the unsavoury aspects of their lives take a new turn.
Callum is a university drop-out who works in guest hospitality, tending rental properties for the rich and famous before heading home to Mum and Dad in dingy Croydon. She comes from humble beginnings, but wants to put all that behind her, focusing on the dream apartment and the adjoining shiny City life.
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