Separate Beds
by Elizabeth Buchan
Tom and Annie’s children have grown up, the mortgage is do-able and they’re about to get kitchen make-over. Life is good-or so it seems. Beneath the veneer of professional success and domestic security, their marriage is crumbling, eaten away by years of resentment, loneliness, and misunderstandings, and they’ve settled into simply being two strangers living under the same roof.
When the economy falls apart and Tom loses his job, suddenly their lives are upended.
As their world shrinks, Tom and Annie are forced closer together. For the first time in years, their home is filled with people, conversation, tears – and laughter. Is it possible, they ask themselves, to start again?
"A beautiful portrayal of family relationships" - Daily Telegraph
"She understands perfectly the disappointments, compromises and challenges… as the passion and promises of youth are gradually eroded by the realities… an astute exploration of fragile relationships between husband and wife, parents and children which is timeless" - You Magazine, Mail on Sunday
"Like Elizabeth Buchan's previous novels, a gem of a read: intelligent, deftly plotted, and uncommonly perceptive about the myriad emotional subtleties that underpin family life" - The Guardian
"An intimate, compelling dissection of a family in crisis" - Woman & Home
"She is such a sympathetic writer… Buchan provides a recognisable picture of our age of anxiety in this moving and often unpredictable novel" - Sunday Times
"Another lovely slice of marriage, morals, of family and painful truths" - The Bookseller
"A warm and timely reminder of the human capacity to adapt and survive" - Daily Mail
"Her novels read lightly but they aren’t superficial. Her families seem real, raw, breathing things, whose deep history is as evident in the most casual seeming gestures as it is in the toxic no-go areas" - The Lady
"A winning combination of asperity and warmth" - The Independent
An achingly touching portrait of a marriage and family in crisis... Buchan masterfully captures the Nicholson’s personal story with her richly drawn characters - Publishers Weekly
Other Books by Elizabeth Buchan
