The Good Neighbour - Softcover

"'Kowalksi writes with a poet's eye and skill.' DAILY TELEGRAPH"

"'Clever, emotional storytelling with laughs, tears and love.' THE TIMES"

"'Exuberant ... Kowalski is a talented stylist.' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW"

"'A remarkable début.' TIME OUT"

"'The story is as enchanting as the house. Kowalski's sketches of marital life are painfully perceptive and there are some great moments of wry social commentary ... The plot is powerful...surges forwards with tremendous pace and vigour. Kowalski's greatest skill is balancing the smart pace with the gradual intensification of tension and it's this, above all, that is compelling.'" (Observer)

The Good Neighbour effortlessly weaves together the tragic stories of two families, hauntingly linked by whispers across the centuries.

When Colt and Francie Hart stumble upon an empty, 150-year-old house during a weekend drive in the country, each of them falls in love and wants to buy it - for entirely different reasons. For Colt, the house will become a trophy to his enormous success at trading stocks. For Francie, a blocked poet, the house seems to offer a chance for her to reawaken her creativity. Yet the more the Harts learn about the house, its history and its previous inhabitants, the more it drives them apart.

When they meet their new neighbour, a descendant of the house's original owners, they inadvertently start a war over Colt's plan to move the family cemetery off their property. Colt returns to the city, leaving Francie to deal with the angry neighbour, but the consequences of his actions follow him there - while at the same time old secrets of his own resurface, forcing him to confront his family -- and himself.

Events that conspire to destroy their marriage could just as easily bring them together again, in this story of two people who, in looking for a place to call home, find themselves instead.