Common Decency: A dark, intimate novel of love, grief and obsession

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From the author of the critically acclaimed Tennis Lessons comes a dark, intimate story of grief, obsession, and how we can never truly know what happens behind closed doors. FROM THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF TENNIS LESSONS 'Susannah Dickey is a phenomenal talent and I loved this novel.' ELIZABETH DAY ' A treat . . . vividly compelling . . . a rare talent, and certainly one to watch' SUNDAY TIMES 'I loved Common Decency . . . a surprising, clever, sad and strange book . . . such a propulsive joy to read too.' MEGAN NOLAN In an apartment building in Belfast, two women wrestle with the sorrows and spectres of love and loss. Since her mother's death, Lily has withdrawn from the world, trapped between grief and anger. She has to break out of this damaging cycle - but how Upstairs, Siobhan is consumed by her affair with a married man. Her days revolve around his sporadic texts and rare visits. She barely notices the strange girl who lives below and dawdles in the foyer. But Lily is keeping a close eye on her neighbour, whose life seems so much better and more fulfilling than her own. When resentment evolves into something darker and more urgent, she decides to teach Siobhan a lesson... From the critically acclaimed author of Tennis Lessons comes a darkly powerful novel about two lives running closely in parallel but divided by gulfs of misunderstanding. With boundless wisdom and deep empathy, Dickey charts the anonymity and hidden intimacies of modern existence, and our profound human need to connect. 'Sharp as tacks, extremely funny and deeply moving. This novel is very good company.' JAN CARSON PRAISE FOR SUSANNAH DICKEY 'I loved Tennis Lessons so much. Susannah is a phenomenally talented writer' ELIZABETH DAY 'A raw, fierce, shockingly honest coming-of-age story' LOUISE O'NEILL 'Incredibly funny . . . by turns charming and disgusting and I loved it' NELL FRIZZELL 'Brilliant . . . a wonderful writer, hugely talented, very funny and insightful' ALAN DAVIES 'Propulsive . . . brilliantly vivid . . . stays in the mind long after reading' IRISH TIMES 'A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch' OBSERVER

Reviews

Elizabeth Day's Book of the Year * Daily Mail, Best Books of 2022 *
[A] treat . . . vividly compelling . . . a rare talent, and certainly one to watch * Sunday Times *
A vivid and beautifully written novel that confirms [Dickey] as one of literature's major new talents ... its quiet despair is genuinely affecting * Observer *
Common Decency is a study of alienation and connection, of love and grief, written by an author who truly cares about language and understands its power from within. Susannah Dickey is a phenomenal talent and I loved this novel. * Elizabeth Day *
I loved Common Decency, a perfectly judged glimpse at two variations of loneliness and how they inform and relate to one another. Such a surprising, clever, sad and strange book which I am still thinking about long after finishing - and yet such a propulsive joy to read too. * Megan Nolan *

Author Bio

Susannah Dickey grew up in Derry and now lives in London. She is the author of two poetry pamphlets, I had some very slight concerns (2017) and genuine human values (2018). Her poetry has been published in Ambit, The White Review, Poetry Ireland Review and Magma, amongst others. In 2018 she was shortlisted for The White Review short story prize, and in 2017 she was the winner of the inaugural Verve Poetry Festival competition. Her debut novel, Tennis Lessons, was published in July 2020.