“A Stranger City” by Linda Grant

The City of the title is London, the principle individuals, a mixture of Londoners, and immigrants, and an Irish nurse, Chrissie. She is, in many respects, the main focus of the story as we follow the events after a body, which remains unidentified and unclaimed, is recovered from the Thames. The other principle characters are a police detective, Pete now retired, who was involved in the case, and attends her pauper’s funeral where a TV documentary maker, Alan is filming the final shots of his programme about the case. So while the novel recounts what is known of the victim’s life, it is much more about the lives of those people who become involved in the events of that fateful night, and the search for the truth.

The evening, when the death occurs, involves Chrissie as she is crossing the Thames at the exact same time, after storming off a tube train following a dispute with her flatmate, Marco. Her life is busy as she settles into the city; and her path crosses others introducing us to a selection of great characters. We read about her life, and that of Pete, the detective, and his wife recently diagnosed with cancer, hence his retirement from the force, and how their lives move forward after that fatal evening. The filmmaker Alan and his wife Francesca introduce the reader to the residents of a street into which they move, this small fraternity providing a distraction from the main storyline. Marco, the cause of Chrissie’s close involvement in the main story, provides yet another strand to the novel. The core though is identifying the victim, and why did she decide to end her life; foul play never being considered.

Linda Grant is an accomplished novelist, and a great storyteller; she merges these storylines together but always bringing her reader back to the events of that evening on London Bridge. A good read for autumn evenings as the nights draw in. A novel in which to get deeply involved.