The Unknown Woman

As the day unfolds, lies are told, choices are revisited, family, friends and strangers are lost and found and Lilith Grainger discovers it’s exhausting being an unknown woman.

As the day unfolds, lies are told, choices are revisited, family, friends and strangers are lost and found and Lilith Grainger discovers it’s exhausting being an unknown woman.

It is Tuesday May 15 and accidental housewife Lilith Grainger wakes to find herself in a photograph on the front page of the newspaper, in a place she shouldn’t be, in a world her privileged family knows nothing about.

At the centre of the novel is 44 year old Lilith Grainger a former actuary who gave up work to look after her two children. It was meant to be for a year or so, but that year or so has turned into 10. She has a lovely, funny husband Bernie who works as a lawyer. Two children, Olivia (14) and Daniel (11) a father in a nursing home, a CEO brother who has just been accused of sexual harassment at work, a neighbour who is getting under her skin (some may say she is becoming obsessed by her) and a mother-in-law coming for dinner.

Lilith’s relationship with her selfie obsessed 14-year-old daughter, her overweight son, her good husband who works long hours, her convenience friend Nikki, her mother-in-law Garland who has launched a successful career as a sculptor at 63, are all laid bare.

The Unknown Woman is a portrait of a woman who doesn’t know who she is anymore and a portrait of modern life.