COMING JANUARY 2025
In Judgement of Others
The Midhurst Amateur Dramatic Society is staging a production of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, and Tessa has agreed to play the part of Elvira. When she suffers a psychotic episode and is sent away for treatment, Ros, a C-list celebrity new to the community, takes her place.
In this darkly comic tale of psychosis in the Home Counties, the stage is set for a blistering examination of mental illness, how we treat it and why we don’t. While Tessa is sectioned in a secure psychiatric hospital, the relationships in the community unravel, and all that we thought we knew, all of our judgements, are thrown into question.
Dim the lights, turn off your phones and settle in as the curtain rises…
Praise for In Judgement of Others
‘Smart, funny, brittle and full of empathy all at the same time, In Judgement of Others is a tightly-wound novel that asks all the right questions. What is the appropriately sane response to modern life? How do you survive living with other people? And are any of us really remotely equipped to deal with all this? A brilliant examination of how we handle mental illness, family and the trials of everyday life.’ – VIV GROSKOP
‘Eleanor Anstruther writes with the barely suppressed anger and particular concision of Elizabeth Taylor.’ - DAMIAN BARR
‘Anstruther is a fantastic storyteller. In this clever, bubbling novel she exposes the dark heart of the Home Counties. Her writing on difficult subjects is perfectly pitched: a light and tender touch but not without real substance.’ - FIONA MELROSE
‘An Evelyn Waugh of our times, with a detour by way of Jilly Cooper, Eleanor Anstruther is biting in her wit and unflinching in her observations of both the darkness and joys of small-town life in England.’ - SUSANNAH CONSTANTINE
‘Brilliant. Beautiful writing with deftly drawn characters, In Judgement of Others offers us a glimpse into all our own hypocrisies.’ - CARIAD LLOYD
‘What are the truths we hide... or hide from? This satirical, dark novel is the perfect fireside read for the coming winter nights.’ - ESSIE FOX
‘Jagged, glittering, searing- In Judgement of Others brilliantly exposes the brutal undercurrents of complacent middle-class life.’ – LS HILTON