I listened to Apple Tree Yard on audio many years ago when it was first released and also enjoyed the TV dramatisation so was keen to read the novel.
The novel opens during a trial and the reasons for this are slowly revealed throughout as we discover more about geneticist Yvonne and her affair with a man she meets at the House of Commons.
This novel is as brilliant as I remember, I loved the setting, the character of Yvonne and the slow reveal. Louise Doughty writes beautifully and this remains one of the my favourite novels of the last decade. A gripping and compelling read that I’d highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC,

Great thriller, kept me totally hooked!

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

I was blown away by this one and can’t wait to read the rest of this author’s work. Apple Tree Yard is totally up there with the best of suspense novels you can read. Dr Yvonne Carmichael, a highly respected scientist , is hiding a secret. She is having an affair with a man she met that works in the House of Parliament. Despite being married, she lacks intimacy, she has success in her career but yet she has a loneliness inside. The book starts with Yvonne in the dock on trial so from the start we know something has gone seriously wrong for her. I was up late reading this one and a little sad when I got to the end. Amazing

We meet 51-year-old geneticist Yvonne at the peak of her career, as her children have grown up and left home. While she and her husband have a happy enough marriage, it lacks intimacy and her life changes when she begins an affair with a man she meets at the Houses of Parliament.

The opening scene is in a courtroom, so it is clear throughout the book that something momentous will happen that will result in Yvonne testifying in a witness box, but the pacing and slow reveal is such that the reader is kept guessing throughout what these events may be. I found the characters very well drawn, and totally believed in Yvonne (unlike others who have found her “unrealistic”).

I loved the twists and turns in Yvonne’s story, and enjoyed trying to guess where the plot was heading. The writing is wonderful, and I am excited to read more by this clever author.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

Louise Carmichael is in trouble. A respected and successful scientist in her fifties, we soon learn how she has become embroiled in a personal crisis which has thrown her entire life into jeopardy. It is a gripping story involving a passionate love affair, terrible violence, police, the law courts and the intense threat of extreme physical danger.
Louise Doughty's novel is well over a decade old now and has been adapted successfully into a BBC drama starring the acclaimed Emily Watson. Despite this, I am still wary of saying any more about this highly-charged and mesmerising thriller for fear of ruining the whole thing for new readers unfamiliar with the story..

A gripping thriller that keeps you interested till the end. The writing style adds to book. Good characters and the pacing is just right. Thoroughly enjoyable read. Thanks to Faber & Faber and Netgalley for a review copy.

Firstly thank you for this Arc

Brilliant book even better than the TV programme

Kept you on your edge of your seat

This is a psychological thriller that drew me into the story of an older woman who has an affair with a man she meets at Westminster. It takes a while to get going and there’s lots of foreshadowing in the early parts of the novel which make it a bit tedious but I still wanted to know how they ended up on trial. The style takes a while to get used to as Yvonne narrates the story to her lover and until the trial she doesn’t even know his name. An enjoyable read.

I'd heard about this book before and it sparked my interest.

I did enjoy this book. From the start, something about the tone of the writing reminded me of Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, who is one of my favourite authors. I liked the way the protagonist narrated. She seemed a very intense character, but that was something that appealed to me. The protagonist is involved in an affair, and I felt that there was just the right amount of steaminess without it being overdone. I would probably read something else by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

Thank you, Net Galley, for providing me with the opportunity to write a review for Apple Tree Yard, first published in 2017.

Is this the story of an affair or a marriage? Ostensibly, the main protagonists are Yvonne Carmichael, eminent scientist and X, a spook. The novel begins with them in the dock, we are not sure why, but we do know that we feel afraid for them. The reader is then drawn into the first meeting and their relationship. Illicit sex is driving force for both, and this relationship becomes pivotal in the novel, with Yvonne's nighttime letters to X, her meetings with him, some sexual and later, some caring. Throughout the novel other characters seemingly provide a backdrop, Guy, the husband and Carrie and Adam, Yvonne's adult children. However, by the end of the novel, the resolution of the trial and affair, it is Yvonne's marriage, troubled though it may be, that provides the focus of her thoughts.

Recognising this, the hints about the marriage, an affair, a rape and its consequences, Yvonne's concern with fairness over work, career and professional status become not only a backdrop but an important element of the story. Why is it, for example, that Guy's changing a nappy elicits such congratulatory commentary - and Yvonne's ability to reserve only short spates of study for her PhD between full time child rearing go unremarked? Who is she? A scientist with an essential role as a commentator at parliamentary committee hearings or on a panel deciding on young scientists' futures? Or is she a victim of rape, a trollop, a woman who can be described as of 'jelly baby' appearance or a treacherous woman who evokes strong feelings that have led to the trial?

I recall being keen to read this novel after seeing the BBC television series of Apple Tree Yard, starring Emily Watson. The series was excellent and the novel from which it springs a satisfyingly complex work. Juxtaposing a plaque honouring Emily Wilding Davidson's overnight stay in the House of Commons on census night 1911 and Yvonne and X's first sexual encounter provides a context for Doughty's questioning of women's role and its place in Yvonne's marriage, her work and her trial. Davidson's plaque, and the beginning of Yvonne and X's relationship are in a small cupboard, complete with a mop and bucket. The irony!

If all of Louise Doughty's novels comprise seemingly clear-cut story lines with complexity hovering only slightly beneath the surface I shall be looking for more of her work.

Dr Yvonne Carmichael is a highly respected geneticist, married to a fellow scientist and the mother of two. As a successful, middle aged woman in her 50s, she is not the typical person one thinks of when it comes to criminal profiles. So why is she in the dock for a serious crime at the Old Bailey?

The story unfurls as Yvonne travels backwards to let us absorb the events that have brought her to this point in time. Her situation is fairly desperate, not least because the opposing counsel has already caught her out. The mistakes she has made are likely to cost her dearly.

This is a story that is better read with less information going in. Yvonne may be a flawed character, but then who is not? The significance of Apple Tree Yard, the nature of Yvonne's intimate relationships, what the prosecution already knows about her, and why she did what she did, will all unfold gradually. And I suspect the reader will be happier for having experienced Doughty's storytelling thus.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review