"Shady secrets, a mother on the run, and a charismatic castle-dwelling aristocrat — this fuses domestic noir and comic crime caper to enthralling effect"
Set between London and the Scottish Highlands, The Driving Seat sees Abigail Abbas weave humour, heartache, on-the-run escapades and outright tragedy to fashion a rousing read-in-one-sitting story of making a necessary new start.
“When I look back at that time, I can see that I was suffering from a kind of cognitive obliteration”. So shares Emma when reflecting on her decision to leave her philandering husband to forge a new life and fresh identity as a live-in driver for an eccentric marchioness. Ignoring the fact that her glamorous boss doesn’t want children anywhere near her remote castle residence, Emma brings her baby, and not much else. Suffice to say, her plan is, at best, sketchy. In fact, as things escalate (fast), it turns out that trying to hide the baby is the least of Emma’s problems. In her words, “I was spiraling”.
Characterful, comic and suspenseful, The Driving Seat is a deliciously satisfying story of dark secrets, messy modern life, and haphazard reinvention, with brilliant twists you won’t see coming while rooting for Emma every step of the way.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
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Emma Propeller is trying to swerve the wreckage of her marriage.
When her husband returns from rehab with a new lover, Emma bolts with her baby on a midnight train to a castle in the Scottish Highlands. A job as a live-in driver for a glamorous marchioness promises safety and the chance to reinvent herself. Everything seems to have fallen into place.
But the castle is no sanctuary. Dark secrets stalk its halls, the marchioness’s behaviour spirals into the unhinged and someone, Emma suspects, is following her. She hasn’t steered herself out of danger – she’s driven straight into it.
The Driving Seat features in the following genres: Debut Books of the Month, Debuts, General Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Thriller and Suspense, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Thriller and Suspense
The Driving Seat is available in Paperback
The Driving Seat was written by Abigail Abbas and published by Birlinn an imprint of Birlinn General
The Driving Seat has 288 pages
£8.99
