Completion

The Manvilles’ north London home was once an example to their peers: the subject of ‘The House on the Hill’, Pen’s series of popular children’s books; and a recurring feature of the newspaper lifestyle sections. But since Pen and Jerry’s divorce, the house has fallen out of use, and so has the family.

Jerry, formerly an award-winning ad-man, is beginning to leave a trail of ex-wives and semi-estranged children across the city. In the south of France, Pen has perfected her garden, but her new marriage comes as more of a struggle. In the tedious heat of Dubai, their daughter Isobel, an accidental ex-pat, spends the days ignoring her own children and managing her online virtual farm. And in his grotty flat in deepest East London, her brother Conrad cleans his bicycles and wonders what to do with his life – besides pursuing his latest crush.

When Pen decides it’s finally time to sell the house, Jerry discovers some unexpected new occupants who violently disagree. Soon, the Manvilles – each of them funny, flawed, and sporadically lovable – will have to say goodbye to the House on the Hill.

Set in our age of property obsession, Completion is a state-of-the-nation novel about valuing the wrong things, investing in the wrong people, and whether home is ever really a house.