The Night Village

When Australian expat Simone moves to London to start a career, getting pregnant is not on her agenda. But she’s excited to start a new life with her baby and determined to be a good mother. Even though her boyfriend Paul’s cold and grey apartment in the Barbican Estate seems completely ill-suited for a baby. Even though Simone and Paul have only known each other for a year. Even though she feels utterly unprepared for motherhood. The arrival of Paul’s cousin Rachel in the flat should be a godsend. But there is something about Rachel that Simone doesn’t trust. Fighting sleep deprivation and a rising sense of unease, she begins to question Rachel’s motives, and to wonder what secrets the cousins share.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

‘A riveting thriller and a vivid portrait of the blur of new motherhood.’ Nicola Redhouse, author of Unlike the Heart: A Memoir of Brain and Mind

'It’s a testament to the skill of a writer that they can create a fictional story so intense that you read frenetically, desperate to find out what happens in the end. Zoe Deleuil has achieved that with The Night Village in spades, writing a harrowing tale wedged so firmly in reality that the cold London air and the tension of life with a newborn seem palpable.' Books+Publishing

'The Night Village is an intimate account of new motherhood thrust upon a young woman who doesn’t feel quite ready to embrace this life-changing event … The tension lies in whether there really is something to worry about or whether it’s all in the mother’s head. This is a delicate balance to pull off but the author has done it exceptionally well.' Reading Matters

'Zoe Deleuil's taut prose expertly evokes the relentless, sleepless early days of parenthood.' Heidi, 5 Stars, Better Reading

'… the benefits of the approach Deleuil has taken are that the novel’s close first-person narration and intense focus on the here and now mirror the claustrophobia of Simone’s state of mind and keep us guessing as to what’s really going on until the end.' The West

'… a tense, literary, domestic thriller …' The Au Review

'The suspense and tension, the questioning by the main character of whether what they are experiencing is real, the feeling of disquiet and twists are all there …' Beauty and Lace

'The Night Village is a slick domestic psychological thriller with a hint of The Girl on the Train about it. It's intelligent, pacy and gripping, and will keep you guessing and gasping until the very end.' Writing WA

'…  the evocation of London is full of vivid detail, the writing is understated and intelligent, and the way Zoe Deleuil evokes the exhausted fragility and uncertainty of new motherhood is entirely convincing.' The Age

AWARDS

City of Fremantle Hungerford Award (Shortlisted 2018)

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