Newcastle. The modern day. Two women are at an impasse. Vivien is a property developer looking to totally revamp the run-down and crime ridden Valley Park Estate. Everyone on the estate has been relocated accept one. Binty. She’s lived in her house for decades and, despite being offered all sorts of inducements, she refuses to leave. Vivien lives with her father Jeff in a house dubbed The Flower House, which overlooks the Valley Park Estate. The action flits back and forth between the present day and the 1960s, when Jeff was enthral to the hippy dream before things began to curdle. ‘The Flower House’ is an effective mix of family drama and psychological thriller and, despite the narrative sagging a bit in the middle, the latter chunk of the book sees the author opening a whole bunch of long forgotten dusty cupboards from which a plethora of skeletons duly tumble. RM

Hard Place Publishing