Across the Common - Tapa blanda

When Louise returns to the house where she was brought up, old violence stirs beneath the calm surface. What, for instance, is the significance of the rare Chinese lily carefully raised by her grandmother in the odd greenhouse, perched high up on the side of the garden? Why is the gate at the bottom of the garden kept barred and locked against the common lapping up against its walls? Only by unravelling these secrets which the Braithwaites, in their fierce family pride, have deliberately hidden, or deliberately forgotten, can she arrive at the truth about them and about herself.

Elizabeth Berridge is the author of numerous novels, including Across the Common and Upon Several Occasions, both serialised by the BBC. She has been a journalist, broadcaster, critic and publisher. Married with two grown-up children, she lives in London.