Zoë Strachan delves into the intricate relationships and hidden motivations of her characters. Her prose is marked by a penetrating psychological depth and a refined style that draws readers into the heart of human dilemmas. Through her narratives, she explores themes of identity, desire, and the complexities of connection. Her works often resonate with the darker aspects of human nature, probing the boundaries of personal freedom.
Richard fell for Luke at university. Luke was handsome, dissolute, dangerous; together they did things that Richard has spent the last decade trying to forget. Now his career is on the brink of success, but his younger sister Stephie's life is in pieces.
Agnes, Siobhan and Myrna all work in their local launderette and, on the surface, have little in common apart from a passion for keeping themselves to themselves...Agnes is fascinated by tales of true crime, and one crime in particular - the murder of her cousin Vina, a glamorous good time girl, found strangled outside a dancehall when Agnes was fifteen. Myrna, meanwhile, lives for the evenings and weekends, longing for romance but craving for sex and money; with mounting debts, her decisions become fuelled by desperation, and she enters a shadowy night-time world fraught with danger. Siobhan is perhaps the most elusive of the three, constantly retreating into her synaesthetic imagination, conjuring the details of people`s lives through their laundry -- her fantasies becoming gradually more and more treacherous. Despite their distance and their differences, isolation draws the women together, casual work relationships metamorphosing into tentative, fragile friendships. As all three are forced to make choices about their lives, and the launderette, events build towards a shocking conclusion. Blacker and more ambitious than Negative Space, Zoe Strachan`s vibrant second novel is illu