Suzanne Berne Books

The second novel by the author of the Orange Prize winning A Crime in the Neighbourhood is set in a Boston suburb a year or so after the infamous nanny scandal broke.

An auspicious debut novel by a young writer who will remind readers of Anne Lamott and Anne TylerCrime in the Neighborhood centers on a headline event-- the molestation and murder of a twelve-year-old boy in a Washington, D.C., suburb. At the time of the murder, 1973, Marsha was nine years old and as an adult she still remembers that summer as a time when murder and her own family's upheaval were intertwined. Everyone, it seemed to Marsha at the time, was committing crimes. Her father deserted his family to take up with her mother's younger sister. Her teenage brother and sister were smoking and shoplifting, and her mother was "flirting" with Mr. Green, the new next-door neighbor. Even the president of the United States seemed to be a crook. But it is Marsha's own suspicions about who committed this crime that has the town up in arms and reveals what happens when fear runs wild.

Strikingly different since childhood and leading dissimilar lives now, sisters Frances and Cynthia have managed to remain devoted --as long as they stay on opposite coasts. When Frances arranges to host Thanksgiving at her idyllic New England farmhouse, she envisions a happy family reunion, one that will include the sisters' long-estranged father. Cynthia, however, doesn't understand how Frances can ignore the past their father's presence revives, a past that includes suspicions about their mother's death twenty-five years earlier.

Originally published in Great Britain in 2013 by the Penguin Group.

<b>WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION</b> <b>'This ambitious account of a sudden coming of age reminded me strongly of <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i></b><b> - and is every bit as moving and satisfying'</b> <i>Daily Telegraph</i> In the long hot summer of 1972, three events shattered the serenity of ten-year-old Marsha's life: her father ran away with her mother's sister; a young boy called Boyd Ellison was molested and murdered; and Watergate made the headlines. Living in a world no longer safe or familiar, Marsha turns increasingly to 'the book of evidence' in which she records the doings of the neighbors, especially of shy Mr Green next door. But as Marsha's confusion and her murder hunt accelerate, her 'facts' spread the damage cruelly and catastrophically throughout the neighborhood. <b> 'It is impossible not to be completely swept along. Berne's vision is gently humorous, ironic, quirky, and she writes with such piercing sensitivity . . . a compelling debut novel' </b><i>The Times</i> <b>'Intensely evocative. I loved it'</b> <i>Observer</i> <b>'The writing is marvellous . . . comparisons have been made between her and Anne Tyler and Harper Lee. Same ball-park, delightfully different voice'</b> <i>Mail on Sunday</i>

Ein Mann, eine Frau, zwei Kinder: In das Leben einer nicht unkomplizierten Familie tritt als Hilfe und Entlastung ein neues Kindermädchen, eine wahre Perle, die putzt, bäckt und bastelt. Offensichtlich weiß sie besser als die überanstrengten Eltern, was gut für die Kinder ist. Doch ihre Perfektion wirkt nachgerade unheimlich. Im Lauf der Zeit spitzen sich die Dinge zu - auch zwischen den Ehepartnern -, bis sich die Spannungen gewaltsam entladen. Suzanne Bernes beunruhigendes Buch beschwört auf verständnisvolle und intelligente Weise das Drama von Eltern, insbesondere von Müttern, die versuchen, Beruf und Familie in Einklang zu bringen.