Apple Tree Yard (Doughty) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
At the start of Louise Doughty’s taut and psychologically persuasive novel we find [Yvonne] taking the witness stand at the Old Bailey, accused of complicity in a violent crime and about to be exposed in a highly damaging and compromising lie.... This is a novel that explores the ease with which we can stray off our safe, familiar paths and become addicted to the stories we tell about ourselves. A disquieting, perceptive and gripping read.
Daily Mail (UK)


Doughty’s achievement is to imagine a horribly mundane tragedy—the kind that could happen to anyone, but a tragedy nonetheless.... It gives nothing away to state that the comprehensiveness of [Yvonne’s] public disgrace is harrowingly well-realised.... The trial itself is a masterful piece of evasion and selective disclosure.... A compelling cautionary tale of what happens when fantasy begins to occlude real life. "The trouble with stories is, they are addictive," Doughty states. In this case, she may never have written a truer word.
Guardian (UK)


Louise Doughty has written a gripping thriller that calls our own thoughts on morality into question and is impossible to put down. Intelligent and captivating, Apple Tree Yard makes you realise how one bad decision can change the course of your life forever.
Stylist Magazine (UK)


Doughty controls the progress of this narrative beautifully, parsing out information with tantalising hints at what is to come.... Apple Tree Yard is a chilling novel, in part because of the unsparing light it shines on our ability to deceive ourselves. Doughty has a particular gift for unsettling stories, for making us ask difficult questions of ourselves, and this is her strongest book yet. It’s not a comfortable read, but it is entirely compelling.
Observer (UK)


Doughty is a brilliant storyteller who knows how to build the suspense to a breaking point.
Times (London)


If a prologue to a novel is to whet the reader’s appetite, Louise Doughty provides irresistible temptation with the opening to Apple Tree Yard.... Recollection, interspersed with the growing tension as the trial plays out in the Old Bailey, provides a perfectly dovetailed structure. But within the thriller framework lies a wealth of acutely observed detail, a dissection of social attitudes and an examination of lust, trust, predatory sex, risky behaviour and responsibility.... As deftly as her lover lured Yvonne into a high-risk relationship, Doughty has skilfully led the reader to cast aside misgivings and trust her confident lead. That the result is unsettling is evidence that there is considerably more to Apple Tree Yard than thrilling narrative alone.
Herald Scotland


Doughty...drops sharp, shiver-inducing insights, like winter raindrops, on every page.... The story is compelling, but Doughty makes sure that we’re enthralled by teasing us with tantalising glimpses of future events. Her writing is piercing and potent, overpowering emotions captured in sharp, pithy phrases. For all the tachycardia-inducing detail of the plot, Doughty’s view is broad, steeping the story in authenticity. She provides convincing examples of the effects of trauma, such as the atmosphere after a vitriolic outburst at a middle-class dinner party: "ugly and baffled silence...thick in the yellow room"; and describes the larger world, such as a stranger’s personal drama on the street. The court scene is one of the best I’ve ever read, the suspense and tension building to a taut peak. A major theme is how we build up illusions about people we don’t know, and fall for our ideal rather than the individual. Others include the way female victims are treated by the criminal law system, the sly manipulation of juries, and the way a series of facts can be arranged and interpreted in a variety of ways, all telling different narratives. Riveting.
Independent (UK)


Riveting from the opening scene.... [T]this taut British psychological thriller from Doughty boasts just about everything a mystery lover could want.... Eventually, even Doughty’s cunningly constructed and cannily revealed plot can’t camouflage the emotional void at what should be Apple Tree Yard's core.
Publishers Weekly