Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty
Apple Tree Yard is a dark, intelligent, and unquestionably sexual page-turner that is equal parts psychological thriller and courtroom drama. Award-winning author Louise Doughty spins a complex narrative of adultery, murder, sex, and deception that will keep readers on the edge of their seats right up until the very end. Apple Tree Yard was shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards Crime & Thriller of the Year.
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty
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Yvonne Carmichael has put a lot of effort into building the life she’s always desired, with a successful genetics job, a lovely home, and positive relationships with her husband and their two adult children.
Then, one day, she runs into a man in the Houses of Parliament, and in the seedy, hidden areas of London, she decides to have an impulsive, passionate affair with him, risking everything she holds dear. She first thinks she can keep the relationship separate from the rest of her life, but a violent incident that changes her life leads her carefully thought-out plans into a downward spiral of betrayal, murder, and lies.
Apple Tree Yard, by a renowned author at the height of her skills, is a gripping psychological mystery about one woman’s adultery that is full of unexpected twists. It is also a very literate and perceptive investigation of the principles by which we live and the decisions we make.
A well-known geneticist with a long career, Yvonne Carmichael. She married Guy, a fellow scientist she met in college, and they have two grown children. Their relationship is loving and comfortable. One day, after giving testimony on a scientific topic before a committee of Parliament, she encounters a man. They converse while walking, and then he grabs her arm and guides her to a subterranean church that is rarely frequented. Yvonne then starts to undress.
She doesn’t initially know her lover’s identity, and he has kept most of his life a secret from her, yet the two still have an affair. He worries constantly that Yvonne would say something to someone or that their relationship will be found out, which makes him nervous.
Yvonne suspects her lover must be a spy for the British government due to his need to control the situation; this intrigues her almost as much as their connection has. She is aware that their time together is limited, yet she still craves more of the passion he has sparked in her.
One night, as the couple’s bond wanes and deepens, Yvonne finds herself facing an altogether unexpected threat coming from another angle. And it is there that the direction of her life abruptly alters when she discovers that she and her lover are being tried for murder. She is prepared to act exactly what he has instructed her to do—disclose as little as possible about their relationship in order to prevent the discovery of the truth. But will it?
