A DEVON author has written a new novel described as a “bittersweet and darkly funny story about a group of feuding neighbours”.
A Perfect Year?, Ruth Foster’s debut, revives the “round-robin” letter –that is, photocopying a single newsletter and sending it to family and friends – to “hilarious effect”.
The neighbours write “absorbing” round-robin letters every December, but whether they “bear any resemblance to reality” is uncertain.
“Letters like these have come my way every December for years,” Ms Foster explained.
“I always marvel at their glorious mix of content: everything from celebrated music exam results to a heart-wrenching family tragedy; from holiday disaster anecdotes to a graphic description of Uncle Clarence’s medical condition.
“Nowhere else do you find life changing events and humdrum detail so completely intertwined on a single sheet of A4.
“But read between the lines and the real story often lurks beneath.
“I found myself wondering if I could construct a novel out of them – and A Perfect Year? was born.
“I loved writing the diverse characters and their stories, and readers will instantly identify people they know - maybe even their own neighbours!
“There’s Alison and her family, accidental arrivals in affluent Upley Rising, always struggling to make ends meet.
“Next door to them live Caroline and Charles, whose life is always perfect (or if it’s not they won’t admit it); and opposite lives Robert, who appears to be the epitome of suburban respectability.
“It’s all made up, though readers will definitely identify with some of the things that happen to them. They do tell real stories of family life, with all its dramas and tragedies.”
The author also described her novel as “unashamedly nostalgic” about its setting.
“Alongside being a saga about nightmare neighbours, it chronicles 21 heady years in this country.
“The 1990s and early 2000s, when A Perfect Year? is set, were an amazing time.
“There was Britpop, a new young government trying to make its mark, the early days of social media (Friends Reunited and Bebo were cutting edge!) – and not forgetting the Dome.”
A Perfect Year? is available in bookshops now.