Elizabeth Noble novel traces the lives of a group of residents living in a building in New York
RATING: 3 Stars
“The idea for The Girl Next Door really began germinating as soon as I moved to New York City in 2006, into a pre-war co-op apartment building on the Upper West Side,” says The Girl Next Door author Elizabeth Noble. “I’d never really lived in an apartment before. I was struck by the obvious fact that stories and secrets lurked behind every closed door. It’s a great way to bring together a cast of characters from completely different backgrounds, of all ages and all circumstances.”
The Girl Next Door includes the New York City apartment building as a character in the novel. Ed Gallagher gets a promotion so he and his wife Eve move to New York. Eve finds them a wonderful apartment not to far from Ed’s job and in a good neighborhood. Ed’s occupied with work and friends, but Eve can’t work without a visa. She’s not as confident as she could be.
Eve is befriended by Violet Wallace, an 82-year-old fellow Englishwoman, who’s lived in the building for a long time. Jackson Grayling III is a ne’er-do-well trust fund baby who falls in love with Emily Mikanowski, a gorgeous girl who doesn’t realize how pretty she is. She’s friends with Charlotte a librarian, who’s a bit frumpy. Then there are the Kramers and Schulmans, each married with kids and their own set of problems.
“This is the first novel I’ve written with an entirely American setting,” says Noble. “My first four books…The Reading Group, The Friendship Test, Alphabet Weekends and Things I Want My Daughters to Know…were all set in the UK. It’s been interesting to see the response of an American audience to a book set here.”
“Living abroad provides a fascinating wealth of material for a writer,” says Noble. “I’m still often very homesick for the UK. Anyone who flies over to visit us is provided with an extremely eclectic list of nostalgia treats to bring…Sherbert Fountains, Squeezy Marmite, Marks and Spencers school tights, Oxo cubes. But, I feel very lucky to be having this experience with my family.”
The Girl Next Door’s interwoven stories make a great concept. However, with so many characters clamoring for attention, the emotional connection to Ed and Eve was diminished. And, it would have been nice to know more about the building, not just the people in the building.
Good for a plane ride.
Elizabeth Noble was born at home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Noble lives with her husband and two daughters in New York City. You can find out more at ElizabethNobleBooks.com.
The Girl Next Door: A Novel by Elizabeth Noble. Trade Paperback, 352 pages, Publisher: Touchstone, December 22, 2009, Language: English, ISBN: 9781439154830 $15.00
