A beautifully-written and acutely-observed novel of relationships, of ordinary lives under extraordinary pressures. Disgraced Tory politician, Max, is unable to shake off the whiff of scandal following the suspicious death of his best friend's wife. His daughter, Maggie, believes she witnessed something which confirms Max's guilt - but she has told no one what she saw that terrible night. Max's mother, Nanda, living an unconventional life in a ramshackle cottage in Gloucestershire, observes it all with the detachment of one who is nearing her death. As these three characters move through a crucial few months, events unfold in their alternating voices, and so the truth behind the headlines gradually emerges. In this assured and acute observation of ordinary lives under extraordinary pressure, the author explores the complex nature of the bond between mother and son, father and daughter, and examines what happens when that bond is stretched to breaking point and the most basic loyalties are called into question. It makes for an absorbing, unsettling and moving read.

Author Biography

Brought up in Gloucestershire and educated at Oxford, Alice Jolly has worked in London for the investment bank, Kleinwort Benson; in Poland for the World Bank, and in Brussels for the European Commission, where she still lives and now works part-time for a human rights NGO. Alice Jolly is in her early thirties. WHAT THE EYE DOESN'T SEE is her first novel.