A Desirable Residence – Sophie Kinsella

Description

A Desirable Residence by Sophie Kinsella, writing under the name Madeleine Wickham, is a sharply observed contemporary fiction novel about suburban drama, ambition, and tangled relationships. The story follows Liz and Jonathan Chambers, a couple struggling with financial pressure after taking on a failing private college while still burdened with their unsold family home. When the smooth-talking estate agent Marcus Witherstone offers to find them tenants, it seems like the perfect solution. But Marcus’s involvement soon spirals far beyond property management.

As glamorous new tenants Ginny and Piers move in, personal lives quickly unravel. Liz becomes entangled with Marcus, who’s juggling his own secrets, while their teenage daughter Alice fixates on the charismatic couple renting their old house. Beneath the calm surface of Silchester’s middle-class respectability lies deceit, obsession, and crumbling marriages, all rendered with Kinsella’s trademark wit and irony. Though not part of a series, this standalone novel captures the messy, often comedic consequences of chasing dreams and hiding truths.

A Desirable Residence is perfect for readers who enjoy smart, character-driven stories about modern domestic life, infidelity, and suburban pretence, all delivered with a darkly comic edge.