Eliza Peabody is one of those dangerously blameless women who believe they have God in their pocket. She is a modern-day Florence Nightingale, always up at the Hospice or the Wives' club; she is too enthusiastic; she talks too much. Her concern for the welfare of her wealthy south London neighbours even extends to ingenuous, well-meaning notes of unsolicited advice under the door.

It is just such a one-sided correspondence that heralds Eliza's undoing. Did her letter have something to do with Joan's abrupt disappearance from number forty-one? What to make of the long absences of her husband and Joan's, and of the two men's new, inseparable friendship? And why will no one else on Rathbone Road speak of Joan? As Eliza's own life seems to disintegrate, she finds that, despite the pity and embarrassment with which her neighbours greet her, she is at last being drawn into their lives - although not in the way she had once fantasised about. This is a sharp, poignant and wickedly funny tale of love, heartache and disillusionment.

This is a novel that steadily grew on me and got me totally hooked to find out whatever happens next in Eliza's life. It starts with Eliza writing notes to her neighbour Joan who has done a runner and Eliza, ever the nosy neighbour soon puts her nose into things that are really none of her concern. At times her observations are sooo funny (like the female neighbours with their perfectly washed hair) but then it drifts off into something more disturbing (people literally disintegrating into the gutter front of her) and I kept wondering if this a book dealing with dementia or another mental illnes as her stories (in her letters to Joan) get more and more absurd. It is not and I felt so compelled to read on and on and the fabulous end brought tears to my eyes.

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It's odd for me to finish a book and not really know what I think of it. I'm not sure whether I really wish to give three stars or two.
It was a very strange story; but that is hardly surprising considering that is told entirely through letters written by a character that is experiencing a mental break.
At times it was difficult to follow, but again that was all by clever design.
At the end there is a great reveal, in which all of the truths and fictions are set straight by the character herself, and while that did help tremendously with the clarity, it also was the book's biggest disappointment.
It seemed pointless to weave just an elaborate maze of confusion only to tear in tidily down within a couple of paragraphs.
It packed a bit of a punch for such a short book, and yet it was so very peculiar. I'd be interested to hear what others thought of it.
I shall need to ponder this one a bit more.

Hope someone picks this up!