Louise Doughty was a guest on the Faber Podcast in 2010, when she discussed Whatever You Love. Her new novel, Apple Tree Yard, shares with its predecessor an interest in the working out of vengeance, but in an entirely different context. Yvonne Carmichael is a loyal wife, a good mother, and a successful geneticist but one poor decision - the wrong time, in the wrong place, with the wrong man - sees her life spiral out of control, climaxing in a murder trial at the Old Bailey. It's an intriguing narrative and here Louise Doughty tells us more, talking us through not just the novel but the many ideas contained within, including prejudice and sexual politics, the criminal justice system, and even the erotic potential of the Houses of Parliament.
