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The Good Neighbour
The Good Neighbour
Jan 17, 2026 12:35 PM

Author:Beth Miller

The Good Neighbour

Everyone has secrets. How far will you go to protect yours?

After living next to the neighbours from hell, Minette is overjoyed when Cath and her two children move in next door. Cath soon becomes her confidante, a kindred spirit, even her daughter’s babysitter.

But Cath keeps herself unusually guarded and is reluctant to speak of her past. And when Minette witnesses something unspeakable, she begins to question whether she really knows her new friend at all…

An addictive and gripping novel, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Daughter

Reviews

This is Mr. Huxley's Hollywood novel, and you might expect it to be fantastic, extravagant, crazy and preposterous. It is all that, and heaven and hell too....It is the kind of novel that he is particularly the master of, where the most extraordinary and fortuitous events are followed by contemplative little essays on the meaning of life....The story is outrageously good

—— New York Times

A highly sensational plot that will keep astonishing you to practically the final sentence

—— New Yorker

Mr. Huxley's elegant mockery, his cruel aptness of phrase, the revelations and the ingenious surprises he springs on the reader are those of a master craftsman; Mr. Huxley is at the top of his form

—— Times Literary Supplement

This is the most enjoyable fiction I’ve come across this year. Gorsky is engaging and, best of all…manages to cast London in a new and softer light. I defy anyone who revelled in Fitzgerald’s original not to have fun with Goldsworthy’s attempt to transpose arguably the greatest American novel back to the old world

—— Peter Carty , Financial Times

Written with such narrative elegance that you’re led irresistibly on, as with some exquisite dish, from one perfect melting mouthful to the next

—— Michael Frayn

Entertaining and poignant, ironic and serious, Gorsky is both a literary homage and the work of a highly original imagination. Goldsworthy is brilliant on money, clothes. romantic love and decadent sex -- and on various kinds of immigrant species. A jeu d'esprit with a heart and mind.

—— Eva Hoffman

Here, at last, is the ‘Gatsby’ for today’s London – the holy city of the Russian super-rich. In a marvellously written, wickedly imagined novel, sometimes hauntingly sad and sometimes very funny, Vesna Goldsworthy evokes the loneliness which goes with sudden and gigantic wealth, as it falls upon men and women with no previous background of privilege. ‘Gorsky’ provides a crowded satire on the mob of hangers-on who follow the billionaires, and a clear-eyed panorama of Kensington and Chelsea as new money floods over old dignity.

—— Neal Ascherson

The spell-binding story of a Russian billionaire setting up home in London's 'Chelski'. With wit and poetic verve, Vesna Goldsworthy explores our fascination with money, glamour, parties and sex and, ultimately, offers a haunting elegy to love

—— Sofka Zinovieff

There’s no mistaking F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby as the inspiration behind Vesna Goldsworthy’s glittering, glamorous novel

—— Eithne Farry , Sunday Express, S Magazine

It’s a clever, telling story asking questions about love, power, beauty and books. Where better to find love than among the shelves of a dusty bookshop?

—— Patrick Neale , Bookseller

Her sharp observation of London’s super-rich...is an unexpected and elegant bonus in this retelling of a classic story

—— The Times

Its charm lies in its literary and historical adornments

—— John Owen , Country & Town House

I was swept up in the characters and the setting of this brilliant book and hope that it will become a classic

—— Charlotte Courthold , Mature Times

It’s a great story by any measure

—— Kathy Watson , Tablet

An eternal, melancholy story which never fails to tug at the heartstrings

—— Maxim Jakubowski , Lovereading

Goldsworthy’s mischievous debut updates that constant trope about gaining the world and losing your soul in a contemporary London setting that is two parts Bulgakov to one part Richard Curtis’s Notting Hill

—— Michael Conaghan , Belfast Telegraph Morning

An energetic return to form pitting reason against religious zeal

—— Justine Jordan , Guardian

Magic realism squared […] the most madcap fun you’re likely to have in a book this year.

—— Olaf Tyaransen , Hot Press

I love, love, love the Rushdie – I think it’s my favourite of his… The fantasy elements are just magical and, of course, it’s gorgeously written.

—— Marianne Faithfull , Observer

An apocalyptic battle between reason and unreason, good and evil, light and darkness, with all the bells and whistles of a Hollywood blockbuster.

—— Carlos Fraenkel , London Review of Books

Not only a beautifully written satire-as-fairytale but the subject matter is bang on trend… That Rushdie should still be writing so potently and still be continuing to push back the frontiers, when he could easily pull up a deck chair and languish on the frontiers he already owns is wonderful, inspirational and profoundly (but only in the best way) terrifying… 10/10, Master.

—— Starburst Magazine

Ambitious, smart and dark fable that is full of rich and profound notions about human nature.

—— Katherine McLaughlin , SciFi Now

The Gap of Time takes nothing away from The Winter's Tale. If anything it might add to it, or at least to its resonance and mystery. It is an impressive achievement, especially as Winterson manages the contradictions of comedy and tragedy in a way which suits both their modern likelihood and their moral implications

—— Mary Leland , Irish Examiner

A witty retelling.

—— Joanna Kavenna , Literary Review

Her new story retains the essence of Shakespeare, but filters his comedy and sentiment through feminism and technology.

—— The Culture Trip

Filled with her wit and seriously thought-provoking ideas, Winterson’s writing is a pleasure… This is a well told, beautiful, magical and wonderfully evocative story which resonates with our contemporary lives.

—— Eric Page , Gscene

Vibrates with echoes of Shakespeare’s original.

—— I

Ambitious.

—— Sunday Times

There is a lovely, lilting cadence to the novel… Stylishly done…. Winterson manages against the odds to keep us gripped.

—— Sarah Crown , Guardian

Winterson is on sparkling form in this highly intelligent and daringly imaginative reworking of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale... Witty, clever and bold.

—— Mail on Sunday

Winterson is incapable of being dull, and The Gap Of Time is a fitting addition to her uniquely inventive catalogue.

—— Ellis O'Harrison , Irish Independent

She deftly captures all the magic and raw emotion of the original.

—— Irish Times
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