The story is slow, and there aren’t many explanations – one has to question nearly everything in the novel, wondering what’s fact and what’s fiction, but that is hardly the point of it. What Vivian perhaps wants most in the world is a friend, and so she advertises for one, who must be called Penelope. Vivian’s life, like Anna’s, is run by little rituals – she walks around Dublin in hopes of finding the real world that she is from. Vivian knows she isn’t like other people – she has no friends, and barely any family, and she lives by herself in a house left to her by her Aunt before she died. As in books like The Woman in the Window, the story focuses on one woman’s struggle, in this case, Vivian.

A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, by Eimear McBrideĨ Books like The Woman in the Window Eggshells, by Caitriona LallyĮggshellsis a very niche novel – it won’t be for everyone but it is written wonderfully.Spill Simmer Falter Wither, by Sara Baume.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman.The following novels are a mixture of genres, but they all focus on a disorder of some kind, bringing new light to illnesses unknown, or how trauma can impact a person’s life, just like in The Woman in the Window. His protagonist, Anna Fox, suffers from such a disorder, making the novel read as original and fresh, a concept that unfolds vividly.Ī novel that is largely set in only one person’s home risks getting boring, but if anything the confinement Anna feels towards her home only intensifies the story of her witnessing a violent crime in her neighbour’s home and being unable to do anything about it. The novel is brilliant as a thriller, but perhaps what is more interesting is how it examines the condition agoraphobia, the fear of leaving one’s home. Controversy aside, his novel has been largely well-received, with a film adaption due to come out starring Amy Adams and Gary Oldman. The author does not come without controversy, as he was outed for having lied about having cancers, finally admitting a couple of years ago that he did so as he struggled with his mental health, specifically his bipolar II diagnosis. Finn, as is the pseudonym he is known under, wrote The Woman in the Window, to enormous success in 2018 and because of this, many readers are eagerly searching for more books like The Woman in the Window.

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